As regular CFZ-watchers will know, for some time Corinna has been doing a column for Animals & Men and a regular segment on On The Track... particularly about out-of-place birds and rare vagrants. There seem to be more and more bird stories from all over the world hitting the news these days so, to make room for them all - and to give them all equal and worthy coverage - she has set up this new blog to cover all things feathery and Fortean.

Friday 19 August 2016

Bearded Vulture Larzac found dead in northern Germany


The young male bearded vulture - named Larzac – that left the Grands Causses several weeks ago to make a complete tour of the Netherlands, and that had disappeared in northern Germany, has now been found dead.

After spending some time in the Netherlands and Belgium, Larzac flew to northern Germany on the 2nd of July. He reached the island of Fehman before he turned around and flew back to the mainland. The last data from his GPS tag was received on the 4th of July, in the Schleswig-Holstein region.

Local birders checked the place of the last GPS position, but they could not find Larzac, nor the transmitter. Soon after, we have mobilized German colleagues to spread the news about Larzac´s disappearance. Conservation organizations such as NABU, BUND, OAG (Arbeitsgemeinschaft Ornithologische Schleswig-Holstein), and all rehabilitation centers in the region were contacted. And the news spread quickly. Several articles about Larzac were published in specialized and generalist press - so much so that we have received two possible observations of Larzac, on the 13th and 20th of July 2016. These observations were very approximate and hardly credible but gave us hope.

Unfortunately, the corpse of Larzac was found on Monday 25th of July 2016 by a NABU volunteer. The body was underneath a non-electrified line (pending removal after being buried!). Considering the state of decomposition of the corpse of Larzac, we can assume that his death goes back to the beginning of July.

The rests are now being sent to France for comprehensive post-mortem analysis, so that we try to determine the exact cause of death.


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