The Science Park celebrated World Environment Day with an activity to raise awareness about the breeding and release of the bird that has been extinct in Andalusia since 1986.
The Science Park has celebrated World Environment Day with an activity of environmental awareness and sensitization on the breeding and release of the bearded vulture – an extinct bird in Andalusia since 1986 – in which almost 100 students from three schools in Granada have participated. With this action the students have been made aware of the conservation program of necrophagous birds of the Junta de Andalucía through which the bearded vulture will be reintroduced in Sierra Nevada, with the release of young birds that will take place next Monday, June 17. A four-month-old baby bearded vulture, with an eye damage that will have to remain in captivity for the rest of his life, has been the protagonist of the celebration of World Environment Day that took place this Wednesday in the Science Park. She and nearly 100 students of 1st ESO of IES Padre Suarez, IES Alhama de Granada and Colegio Internacional de Granada who have listened with great interest the words of Francisco Rodriguez Peinado, director of the breeding of bearded vultures in the center Guadalentin de Cazorla (Jaen), with which it has started the same. Guadalentín is a center integrated in the Recovery Plan for Necrophagous Birds of the Junta de Andalucía, of which Borja Nebot is regional coordinator. “Within the framework of this recovery plan, the reintroduction of the bearded vulture in Sierra Nevada is going to begin. To date in Cazorla-Castril we have released a total of 90 specimens since 2006 and, although we are still going to continue releasing young in Cazorla, the time has come to start expanding the population to other mountain systems in Andalusia. Bearded vultures are regular visitors to Sierra Nevada -in fact, there are eight to ten more or less stable specimens. The idea is that, with the releases in hacking of chicks, we can consolidate the formation of pairs in that territory”.
Bearded vulture: an extinct bird that will return to inhabit Sierra Nevada
The informative activity, organized by the Regional Ministry of Sustainability, Environment and Blue Economy of the Junta de Andalucía, the Vulture Conservation Foundation and the Science Park, has ended with the attendance to the workshop ‘Raptors in Flight’ that, exceptionally, has started with the presence of a four months old baby bearded vulture. On Monday, June 17, 2024, the first release of young of this bird will take place in Sierra Nevada, which has been extinct in Andalusia since 1986. The choice of this place has been determined by the physical conditions of this mountainous area that also offers great availability of food for the bearded vultures – wildungulates, such as mountain goats, or domestic livestock – and also because it is one of the areas chosen by the released bearded vultures already released in the reintroduction project in Cazorla. It has already been proven that some specimens have a preference for Sierra Nevada, where they spend long periods, although there are still no breeding territories.
Source:
