MA4, the young Griffon Vulture (Gyps fulvus) was wing-tagged at Jbel Moussa last May by Rachid El Khamlichi with the help of José Antonio Sarrión Salado who was present there that day (photo above). After it’s wing-tagging, MA4 stayed 3 days locally at Jbel Moussa roosting with other vultures.
On 14 August 2015, Javier Rivas Salvador, a MSc student in ‘Biodiversity and Conservation Biology’, found the carcass of MA4 at Tarifa island, southern Spain, in an advanced decomposition state (photo 2), so probably it was dead weeks before it was found.
While we don’t know exactly the causes of the death, but most likely it was due to the poor body condition of the bird which did not unable it to reach Spain safely (Griffon Vultures still crossing the Strait of Gibraltar to Europe as late as July and some even in August and September). Crossing the Strait (and other stretch of water) is a difficult task for such large birds as Griffon Vultures which were not evolved to use flapping-powered flights. And crossing the straits in unfavourable wind direction is a risky decision.
Similar cases were recorded of vultures reaching southern Iberia in very poor conditions or found dead at shores. For example, David Cuenca and Gonzalo Muñoz reported that 3 Griffon Vultures fell into the sea and died. Others Griffons and a Rüppell’s Vulture were forcibly landed by gulls at Tarifa island on 10 June 2016 (see here: http://www.rarebirdspain.net/arbsr506.htm ).
Cases of vultures found dead along the Moroccan coast are rare only because of the scarcity of observers. However, there was a recent case probably involved a bird just arriving from Europe and found dead at the shores of Fnideq (photo below).
