Rescue, breeding, release and monitoring program for Bearded Vultures in the Pyrenees and Picos de Europa

In all natural populations of birds of prey there are reproductive units whose productivity, understood as chicks flown/year, is zero or practically zero. In the case of the bearded vulture, the current recovery plans in the Pyrenean Mountains contemplate specific actions to avoid repeated events of reproductive failure. The Bearded Vulture Working Group (Ministry of the Environment) developed a management protocol for the extraction of bearded vulture specimens from the natural environment. This document establishes non-programmable actions (intervention of an abandoned clutch or clutches with a high risk of loss) and programmable actions (interventions of clutches with a history of risk of loss). As a result of the application of these measures, different bearded vultures have been rescued, incubated, bred in captivity and successfully reincorporated into the natural environment in Aragon. For this purpose, the Bearded Vulture Breeding Center in Human Isolation (CRIAH) located at the Alfranca Estate (CIAMA-Zaragoza) was put into operation. The program to rescue clutches and raise specimens for their reincorporation into the natural environment is carried out by a team specialized in incubation, hatching assistance, breeding assisted by natural imprinting in human isolation and adaptation techniques before their release into the natural environment (“hacking”). The program is financed by different entities: Government of Aragon, Ministry of Environment, Biodiversity Foundation, EU, etc. and FCQ own funds.