Improvements for the preservation of the habitat and survival of the bearded vulture in Northern Spain

MITECO

The main risk factors of the bearded vulture in Spain are associated with its low productivity, its low colonisation capacity and its limited distribution range, and it is currently confined to the Pyrenees area.

For this reason, work is being done at the state level on the demographic improvement of the Pyrenean population and on the creation of two incipient nuclei based on reintroduction projects. Thanks to the previous efforts developed by public and private institutions, the fundamental parameters that determine the viability and survival of the bearded vulture are known.

This project develops points 5.1, 5.2 and 5.3 of the Strategy for the Conservation of the Bearded Vulture in Spain, approved in July 2000. Thus, it intends:

Improve monitoring of critical areas for bearded vulture reproduction.
Increase productivity through the availability of trophic resources in strategic areas.
Maintain the supplementary feeding programme in the Pyrenean-Cantabrian corridor.
Apply veterinary treatment protocols to radiolabeled chickens and bearded vultures.
Develop an environmental awareness program in relation to the bearded vulture conservation program.

Specific objectives include:

To reduce the causes of failure in the reproduction of the species in its different phases, through the custody of the critical nesting areas of the bearded vulture.
To optimise the reproductive rate by implementing a supplementary feeding programme aimed at the most deficient territories of the Aragonese Pyrenees.
Maintain the supplementary feeding programme and improve its management strategies in the Pyrenean-Cantabrian corridor.
To reduce the causes of mortality of the bearded vulture through veterinary treatments.
Increase the level of involvement of farmers, educational centres and other social sectors in programmes for the conservation of endangered species.