Sergey Dereliev

A patchly distributed species, with populations in S Europe, the Middle East up to Central Asia. Non-breeding birds found up to Mongolia and the Indian subcontinent as well; also in N Africa and the Sahelian belt (BirdLife International 2021). A fairly resident bird,  which however shows from local to up to very long-distance foraging or dispersal movements.

Season of assessment

B

Population trendIncreasing
Population size
(min-max, best estimate)		69600-89400,75700
Red List categoryLC
Franks, S., Fiedler, W., Arizaga, J., Jiguet, F., Nikolov, B., van der Jeugd, Ambrosini, R, Aizpurua, O., Bairlein, F., Clark, J., Fattorini, N, Hammond, M., Higgins, D, Levering, H., Skellorn, W., Spina, F, Thorup, K. Walker, J., Woodward, I. and Baillie, S.R. (1) (2022) Online Atlas of the movements of European bird populations. https://migrationatlas.org EURING/CMS (1) Principal investigator
Map

Overall Connectivity for Griffon Vulture

Most recoveries from SW Europe mostly within SW Europe (i.e., up to some hundreds of kilometers); some birds move S/SW, reaching from N to W Africa; movements to NE/E Europe also documented. Birds from W Europe tend to move much more frequently to SW Europe (i.e., from S France to Iberia), with some birds also found in N Africa, W Africa and N/E Europe. The C/CS European vultures seem to show to some degree a migratory/dispersal divide; those birds breeding E to Italy tend to move east-wards, while those breeding across a longitudinal axis centered in Italy tend to move west-wards. A recovery of a bird from Croatia moving south-wards, up to Chad. Birds from SE Europe move mostly across a NW-SE axis (with recoveries up to Israel), with. only some recoveries in SW Europe or NE Europe.

Recoveries by Condition for Griffon Vulture

Overall, most recoveries (almost 75%) due to birds found alive, especially identified by other means (e.g., wing tags, Darvic rings, etc.). A remarkably low (N = 8) amount of recoveries caused by shot. Up to 1990, most recoveries were caused by birds found dead, other or sick/wounded (74%). The increasing amount of recoveries was due to the use of additional marks, which is a recent practice (observed from 1991 to present).

Annual Movements for Griffon Vulture

Long-distance displacements to presumably ‘wintering’ areas occur mostly from Sep to Apr, with most long-distance recoveries being found from Nov to Feb. Recoveries in N Europe, occurring mostly in spring/summer, could reveal exploratory dispersal displacement of first-year/immature vultures. Passage to Africa from Gibraltar documented mostly in Oct-Nov (Bildstein et al. 2009); return from Africa up to Jun (Bensusan et al. 2007).

Connectivity by Month by Region for Griffon Vulture

Regional/local-scale movements (of up to some hundreds of kilometers) can happen in any month along the year, since these birds can move very long distances when they look for food (García-Ripollés et al. 2011, Zuberogoitia et al. 2012). Long-distance dispersal movements, however, fit to the characteristics of what we could classify as a true seasonal migratory movement (see also for details Onrubia 2021). Thus, recoveries in Africa of SW/W mostly happen in autumn/winter; a similar pattern is found for the long-distance movements of vultures from SC/SE Europe. These all long-distance movements have been reported to be likely more frequent in first year birds/subadults (Elosegui & Elosegui 1977, Bernis 1983, Bensusan et al. 2007, Ramírez et al. 2019). Interestingly, north-wards movements for all populations tend to happen in spring/summer, mostly from May to Aug.

Juan Arizaga

References

Statistics Map
N records N individuals N recoveries
Mapped data*
Total available data
*Mapped data include only distant (>= 50 km) recoveries
References Map
Bensusan, K. J., García, E. F. J., Cortes, J., E.2007 . Trends in abundance of migrating raptors at Gibraltar in spring. Ardea 95: 83–90
Bernis, F.1983 . Migration of Griffon Vulture in the Western Palearctic. In: Vulture Biology and Management. University of California Press., BerkeleyEditor(s): Wilbur, S.R., Jackson, J.A.: 185–196
Bildstein, K. L., Bechard, M. J., Farmer, C., Newcomb, L. 2009 . Narrow sea crossings present major obstacles to migrating Griffon Vultures Gyps fulvus. Ibis 151: 382–391
BirdLife International2021 . Species factsheet: Gyps fulvus.
Elosegui, J., Elosegui, R.1977 . Desplazamiento de buitres comunes (Gyps fulvus) pirenaicos. Munibe 29: 97–104
García-Ripollés, C., López-López, P., Urios, V.2011 . Ranging behaviour of non-breeding Eurasian Griffon Vultures Gyps fulvus: a GPS-telemetry study. Acta Ornithologica 46: 127–134
Onrubia, A.2021 . Eurasian griffon vulture Gyps fulvus; In: Migration strategies of birds of prey in Western Palearctic. CRC Press, Boca RatonEditor(s): M. Panuccio, Mellone, U., Agostini, N.
Ramírez, J., Zufiaur, F. M., Guerrero, M.2019 . Spring migration of Eurasian Griffon Vultures across the Strait of Gibraltar: number, timing and age composition. Ardeola 66: 113–118
Zuberogoitia, I., González-Oreja, J., Martínez, J., Zabala, J., Gómez, I., López-López, P.2012 . Foraging movements of Eurasian griffon vultures (Gyps fulvus): implications for supplementary feeding management. European Journal of Wildlife Research

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