Recent observations of the globally endangered Egyptian Vulture (Neophron percnopterus) in Morocco become so rare that some authors considered the species on the verge of local extinction as a breeding species. In this context, the observation of 4 birds in spring 2013 and a successful breeding pair near the Tazekka National Park were received with excitement among the Moroccan ornithological community and beyond.
So in June 2014, we set up a self-financed expedition to the Middle Atlas Mountains to search the Egyptian Vultures in the region. During the six-day survey we found new occupied breeding territories and a communal roosting site, the first of its kind in Northwest Africa, that hosted 40 vultures of different ages. The results are summarised in this paper:
Amezian, M. & El Khamlichi, R. 2016. Significant population of Egyptian Vulture Neophron percnopterus found in Morocco. Ostrich 87: 73-76.
Read also this blog-post: “The plight of the Egyptian Vulture and hopes for the future”. Translated also into French here: “Les vautours au Maghreb: une situation critique et espoirs pour l’avenir”.
Population decline coupled with lack of studies
While it’s true that the species has been declining since decades and most likely disappeared from many Moroccan regions, it should be also noted that there were no studies about this vulture species since decades.
So how do we know that the species is very rare without a field study? Is the species really very rare, or there is just lack of recent data? The short answer is BOTH (= the species has indeed declined but may still occur in some regions where it goes unreported, we partially answered this in our paper).
Lack of recent studies about vultures is very obvious (no articles, no reports,…). Unfortunately, there aren’t also many amateur birders in Morocco that can generate much needed data about the presence of the species in the breeding areas. Let’s take the example of Algeria. As in Morocco, the species has not been studied since late 1980s, and even then it was studied only at the Greater Kabylie (Moali & Gaci 1992). Despite this, we know that the species still occur in many Algerian regions and this is mainly thanks to observations by amateurs birders. We should also start encouraging more amateur people to gather data (presence/absence, photos,…) which can only have a positive impact about our knowledge on raptors and ultimately there conservation (I know it sounds simplistic, but we have a North African proverbe which says: “Drop by drop the river flows”).
Moali, A. & Gaci, B. 1992. Les rapaces diurnes nicheurs en Kabylie (Algérie). Alauda 60: 164–169.
All photos were taken in June 2014 by Rachid El Khamlichi, except two (where he is the subject!) which were taken by Mohamed Amezian.
Photos of the communal roosting site:
Videos of the communal roosting site:
Other photos from the expedition:
