The Project
Volunteer with Bearded Vultures in Andalusia, Spain

The Sierras de Cazorla, Segura and Las Villas Natural Park is Spain’s largest protected park, stretching over 200,000 hectares. Its highest point is Pico Empanada at 2,107m (nearly 7,000 feet) and two of Spain’s biggest rivers, the Guadalquivir and the Segura, have their sources here. Being one of Spain’s wildest landscapes, this park is a rich breeding ground for 51 species of mammal, 185 types of bird, 21 species of reptile and 112 species of butterfly, yet many of these species are severely endangered. Our NGO partners started up in 2000 as a non-profit making company dedicated to the conservation and recovery of endangered species. Gradually they concentrated more and more on the Gypaetus Barbatus, known as the Bearded or Lemmergeyer Vulture, which culminated with the EU LIFE’s Reintroduction of Bearded Vultures Project starting in November 2004.

The main aims of the project are to improve the breeding of bearded vultures in captivity, study the viability of different regions to release the birds and then locate the ideal areas for ‘hacking’ (the process of releasing and monitoring the juveniles), and control the threats that may put the birds in danger. The project’s final objective is to build up the Bearded Vulture population through captive breeding and release, so that eventually they are capable of surviving and reproducing in the wild without human intervention. In Europe, Bearded Vultures exist in the Pyrenees and there are a few isolated pairs in Corsica and Crete, but all are severely endangered. There has been a successful reintroduction programme in the Alps, with whom our partners are closely associated.

Adult bearded vultures can reach a wing span of 2.80 metres and weigh up to seven kilos. Their scientific name describes the physical characteristics: gyp means vulture, aetus means eagle and barbatus is bearded. ‘Vulture’ refers to them being carrion birds and ‘eagle’ to their silhouette in flight. As they become adults, their chest and head plumage changes from black to white. Adults cover their white plumage in mud and dust, and the red rim around their eyes becomes redder as a result of arousal or stress. They are associated with mountain ranges because they need rocky cliffs for nesting and wide open spaces to look for their food – bones. The bearded vulture is the only bone-eating bird in the world; making it a unique species that is at the height of evolution, being a bird that doesn’t have any teeth yet eats bones and can swallow a bone up to 20cm long. At the breeding centre there are twenty birds – ten male and ten female – who are carefully paired-up and monitored. Bearded vultures reach sexual maturity when they are seven or eight years old and tend to lay two eggs at a time, with the oldest chick always killing the other one. The second egg is therefore taken away and given to adoptive parents to incubate, hatch and feed it. Human contact is prohibited whilst the chicks are between eight and thirteen days old, otherwise they mistake humans as their parents and will never integrate into the wild.

These birds are later released into a carefully monitored area. Once they reach breeding age they will return to this spot to start up their own family and spend the rest of their lives there. The juvenile vultures are placed in this area when they are about three months old, just before they learn to fly, and are fed by the team until they learn to fly and feed themselves. This lasts for about two months before they start to fly further afield and become harder to track.

Other than tracking and breeding the birds, a lot of effort is put into the environmental education of locals and tourists, promoting endangered species and trying to conserve their habitat. The park draws a large number of tourists (foreign and Spanish alike) who are keen to see these creatures and the beautiful, wild landscape. The team also tries to re-educate hunters, ensuring that they don’t use poisoned bait, which is a huge danger to carrion birds and other wildlife. In addition, electricity companies are approached to make their high voltage wires more visible to birds and asked to adapt the structures so that the birds don’t alight and electrocute themselves.