Projecto LIFE Habitat Lince Abutre

News

The use of camera traps in the Feeding Stations for Scavenger Birds

1 October 2013

One of the methodologies tested to monitoring the feeding stations for scavenger birds built by the project in the Special Protection Areas of Mourão/Moura/Barrancos and Guadiana Valley consists in the use of camera traps. This type of equipment allows us to collect information on the diversity of scavenger species and number of individuals that use these structures for supplementary feeding, without causing them any type of disturbance.

The results obtained are extremely interesting and relevant to the project, having been detected several species of scavenger birds feeding on these sites. Besides the Black Vulture (Aegypius monachus), target species of the project and for which the network of feeding stations was built (ensuring adequate availability of food resources), were detected and photographed other species, such as the Griffon Vulture (Gyps fulvus), the Red Kite (Milvus milvus) and Black Kite (M. migrans), the Golden Eagle (Aquila chrysaetos) and the globally endangered Iberian Imperial Eagle (Aquila adalberti).

Besides identifying these species feeding at several of the feeding stations, with dozens of Griffon Vultures and up to 10 Black Vultures, we were able to identify several Griffon Vultures with wing tags of different projects inside the Iberian Peninsula. Among the tagged vultures observed in the feeding stations created in the region of Mourão, Moura and Barrancos, are birds originating from Castelo Branco (region of Tagus International) and north of Spain, 700km away, from the region of Aragón, near the Pyrenees.

This autumn we hope to show you new photos of Black Vultures and other scavenger birds that coexist with this species in the Southeast of Portugal!