Individual recognition

In 2010 BSPB started development of pilot method for photographing the faces of the adult territorial Egyptian Vultures, which do not have color rings. The birds are distinguished one from another mainly by individually specific black dots on the facial skin. The aim is by establishing of individually recognizable facial characteristics, to measure the adult survival in the following years and know what percentage of the birds die in and outside Bulgaria during the migration and wintering and how many die in the breeding areas. The method uses trap cameras placed near the nests during the ringing of the juveniles and photographs while the birds are feeding on vulture restaurants or individual supplementary feedings. The future wider use of video-monitoring of the nests is expected to give even much better results.

 

Egyptian Vulture photographed at feeding station    Female Egyptian Vulture with characteristic
Picture: Stafan Avramov                         individually recognizable black spot under 
                                                    the right  eye. Picture: trap camera

Male Egyptian Vulture with characteristic          Female Egyptian Vulture with characteristic small  
individually recognizable spots                   spots on the face. Picture:  trap camera
on the facial skin. Picture: trap camera