Our field team had another successful fieldwork season in Central Asia tagging both Egyptian vultures and Cinereous vultures from 19th July to 5th August.
This year the field season in Central Asia was kicked off with the successful first tagging of two juvenile Egyptian vultures in Kyrgyzstan with our partners from The Nature Foundation Kyrgyzstan. The field work was carried out in the region of Osh in the south of the country. Along with the tagging, 12 breeding territories of Egyptian vulture in total were mapped. A total of six field staff were involved, in very hot weather, often well above 40°C. To continue with the plan for this field season, part of the team crossed the border with Uzbekistan on foot and headed straight into the capital city of Tashkent where the next adventure began. The Uzbekistan team united and were reinforced by our partners from the Institute of Zoology and Tajikistan Nature Foundation. In Uzbekistan, the team focused on tagging juvenile Egyptian and Cinereous vultures in remote nests in the Central Kyzylkum desert and the Nuratau State Reserve. Fieldwork was carried out towards the end of July and in the beginning of August with the support from the State reserve authority. We tagged three Egyptian vultures with a 30g solar powered Ornitela tags and two Cinereous vultures with a 50g tags. They will provide movement data for several years to come as the juveniles find their way to their overwintering grounds, and back again to the breeding sites each year.
In Kazakhstan, our project partners at the Biodiversity Research & Conservation Centre (BRCC) also had a very successful field season! The team tagged four Egyptian vultures and ringed 13 birds in total in the Karatau and Chu Ili mountains in the south and south east of the country. Two Cinereous vultures were also tagged in the Syrdarya-Turkestan State Regional Natural Park. The BRCC team have tagged 11 Egyptian vultures and five Cinereous vultures so far in Kazakhstan, building up an important picture of the bird’s movement in the area. Furthermore, the BRCC is also working on gathering knowledge on the use of NSAIDs and poisoning in the country. Carrying out fieldwork in Central Asia could be very challenging considering the vast areas, huge distances and extreme heat and weather conditions, so we are very grateful for all our friends at the partnering organisations for their devoted and amazing work they do despite the difficulties.
We want to thank our supporters at Ornithological Society of the Middle East (OSME) and the Hawk Conservancy Trust for their ongoing funding and support for the project. We would like to express also our gratitude to the Vulture Conservation Foundation for providing GPS tags for Cinereous vultures in Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan. We further want to thank the Ministry of Environment of Uzbekistan, the Nuratau State Reserve and the Syrdarya-Turkestan State Regional Natural Park in Kazakhstan.