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Dutch Birding volume 27 (2005) no 5

2005-5

Eurasian Black Vulture of Spanish-French origin in the Netherlands in March-August 2005
On 16-17 March 2005, an adult Eurasian Black Vulture Aegypius monachus was observed near Beers, Noord-Brabant, the Netherlands. The bird was colour-ringed on the right leg (blue ring with white inscription 'CX') and wore an aluminium ring on the left leg. Four primaries and two secondaries in the left wing were bleached and it had a radio transmitter antenna in its tail. The same bird was briefly seen at Oostvaardersplassen, Flevoland, on 20 and 21 March 2005 and observed again by many birders from 31 March to 12 August. On 15 August, it was killed after a collision with a train. The corpse was taken to the National Museum of Natural History/ Naturalis at Leiden, Zuid-Holland. There, in a session open to press and public, the bird was dissected. The skin will be mounted and deposited in the collection of Naturalis. In the Oostvaardersplassen area, many carcasses of large herbivores were present after a period of strong cold and heavy snowfall in early March, providing ample food for the vulture. In June, the bird reportedly also fed on recently fledged Greylag Geese Anser anser, which it apparently killed itself.
The bird was traced as 'Carmen', a weakened, poisoned adult female brought into care in Extremadura, Spain, on 2 May 2003, taken to Mallorca, Spain, after recovery on 15 July 2003, and brought to Les Baronnies, Drôme, France (the second location in France where a reintroduction project for this species is operating) on 7 April 2004 with nine other Eurasian Black Vultures. It was released at Les Baronnies on 2 February 2005 and last seen in mid-February. The distance between Extremadura and Les Baronnies is c 1000 km; the flight distance from the re-introduction site to Beers in the Netherlands is c 800 km. Although of presumed wild origin, it is questionable if the bird can be accepted as a genuine vagrant by the Dutch rarities committee (CDNA), given the fact that more than 50% of the travelled distance was covered involuntarily and not under its own steam.
Enno B Ebels, Joseph Haydnlaan 4, 3533 AE Utrecht, Nederland
(ebelswxs.nl)



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