When Regina, and then Lom – two
of the three captive bred Egyptian Vultures released this year in Bulgaria –
crossed from Turkey to Cyprus on their migration south, our hearts sunk. We
knew already that about 70% of all tagged wild nestlings from the Balkans ended
up drowning in the Med in their first migratory journey, and 3 of the 6
Egyptian vultures the VCF and CERM released last year in southern Italy also
did not make it to the southern shores of the Med, falling into the sea.
We were hoping that Regina – the
first bird to migrate, and then Lom – would follow the Turkish coast, but she
unfortunately flew from Antalya to Cyprus on the 8th of September. After
roosting on the western coast of Cyprus, she left her night perch quite early,
between 6:00 and 7:00, and continued her migration south entering again into
the sea through Akrotiri Peninsula at 10:00 – from there the distance to the
nearest coast is 240 km. For 6 hours she flew over 190 km and at 16:00 she was
only some 50 km from the Lebanese coast, but rather than flying east, she
continued to fly over the sea some more 130 km in a southwestern direction and
finally fell into the water, probably exhausted, at 20:00, just 25 km from the
coast of Tel Aviv...
