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Tree Characteristics, Food Habits and Seasonal Abundance of Roosting Egyptian Vultures in Northern Spain

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Tree Characteristics, Food Habits and Seasonal Abundance of Roosting Egyptian Vultures in Northern Spain J. Raptor Res. 24(1-2):19-25 ¸ 1990 The Raptor ResearchFoundation, Inc. ROOST-TREE CHARACTERISTICS, FOOD HABITS AND SEASONAL ABUNDANCE OF ROOSTING EGYPTIAN VULTURES IN NORTHERN SPAIN OLGA CEBALLOS 1 Sociedadde CienciasAranzadi, Pl. I. Zuloaga (Museo), 20003 San Sebastian,Spain Josv.A. DONAZAR EstacidnBioldgica de Doffaria,CSIC, Pabelldndel Perif, Avda. M • Luisa s.n., 41013 Sevilla,Spain ABSTRACT.--SixEgyptian Vulture (Neophronpercnopterus) communal roosts were discoveredin northern Spain between1986-1988. The maximum number of EgyptianVultures observedvaried between8 and 138 (• = 55). Vultures generallyselected large, dead trees for roosting,and foragedprimarily on domestic mammalsand birds,wild lagomorphsand garbage.In 1988 the largestroost was formedin late February and dissolvedin early September.Number of vulturespeaked in late July; 72.6% of the vulturesobserved were adults, 26.6% immatures and 0.8% juveniles. Immatures frequented roosts between May and September.Juveniles were observedin August and September. Caracteristicasde los arbolesdormideros, habitos de alimentaci6ny abundanciaestacional de dormideros de buitres egipciosen el norte de Espafia EXTRAGTO.--Seisdormideros comunales de buitresegipcios (Nephron percnopterus) han sidodescubiertos en el norte de Espafia, entre 1986-1988. E1 maximo nfimero de buitres egipciosobservados variaba entre 8 y 138 (• = 55). Los buitresgeneralmente seleccionaban grandes airboles muertos para dormideros,y se alimentabanprincipalmente de mamlferosy avesdom•sticos, liebres y basura.En 1988, el dormidero mas grandeha sido formadoa finesde febrero,y desocupadoa principiosde setiembre.E1 nfimero de buitres ha alcanzadosu maximo a fines de julio. 72.6% de los buitres observadoshan sido adultos, 26.6% han sidoaun inmaduros,y 0.8% en estadojuvenal. Los buitresinmaduros frecuentaban dormideros entre mayo y septiembre.Los buitres en estadojuvenil han sido observadosen agostoy septiembre. [Traducci0n de Eudoxio Paredes-Ruiz] Egyptian Vultures (Neophronpercnopterus), like recent reports provide only anecdotalinformation, someother Old and New World vultures,congregate and detailedmonitoring of EgyptianVulture roost- in communal roosts. Roosts have been reported ing behavioris lacking. Here we describetree char- throughoutthe entire range of the species(Brown acteristics, food habits, and dynamics (seasonal and Amadon 1968, Cramp and Simmons 1980) changesin abundance)of spring-summerEgyptian though rarely occurringin the Western Palearctic. Vulture communalroosts in northern Spain. Cramp and Simmons(1980) pointedout roostsdur- STUDY AREA AND METHODS ing the 1800s in Istanbul and early 1900s in the The studywas carried out from 1986-1988 in a 13 000 southof Spain and the MacaronesianIslands. More km2 area coveringthe left bank of the upper valley of the recently,after declineof the speciesin Europe, the Ebro River (northernSpain), includingparts of the prov- only reportedroosts are locatedon the Mediterra- incesof Navarra, Huesca and Zaragoza. Climate is influ- nean island of Menorca (Congost and Muntaner encedby the PyreneesMountain range which receives rain from the northwest.Unequal rainfall occursin the 1974), where up to 47 Egyptian Vultures have been Pyrenees(>2000 mm/yr) and in the Ebro valley (<400 countedroosting on cliffs and in pine trees.However, mm/yr). Vegetationin the Pyreneesis predominantlyfor- est [Scotspine (Pinussylvestrys), beech (Fagus sylvayica) and oak (Quercusspp.)] while in the Ebro valley herba- Presentaddress: Grupo de EstudiosBio16gicos UGAR- ceouspseudosteppe vegetation and cerealcultures predom- RA, C. Carlos III 19-4, 31002 Pamplona, Spain. inate. 19 20 Or,G^ CEB^t,t,OS AND Jose A. DONAZ^R VOL. 24, NOS. 1-2 Table 1. Gharacteristicsof EgyptianVulture roosts.The numberof checksand the information(number of Egyptian Vultures, date, % immatures)obtained from the checkswhen a large number of birds was seenis detailed. For other speciesseen regularly the maximum number observedis detailed. ROOST 1 2 3 4 5 6 Substrate Pines a Pines b Pines c White poplar Cliff Pinesa Number of checks 42 10 8 2 14 4 Max. no. Egypt.Vult. 138 43 52 72 14 8 Date 29 July 1988 29 July 1988 15 July 1987 6 July 1988 7 July 1987 7 July 1987 % immatures 27.5 18.6 19.6 28.3 5.1 25.0 Other species Griffon Vulture 210 -- -- 26 Black Kite 70 -- -- Red Kite 25 8 3 Raven 100 -- 60 a Pinushalepensis, b = p. sylvestris,c = p. nigra. Roosttree characteristicswere studiedin 4 large roosts 4) Foliagecover (classified on a scaleof I to 5; a value of using comparisonswith control trees. Roost trees were I representeda tree with greenleaves on everybranch consideredto be those under which Egyptian Vulture and a value of 5 representeda defoliated (dead) tree), droppings,feathers and pellets could be found simulta- 5) Percentageof open spacearound the maximum di- neously. Control trees were chosenby random selection ameter of the crown of the tree. Glosedspace is taken in the roostarea. All treeswith a diameter at breastheight to be when the crownsof neighboringtrees were closer (DBH) >15 cm were includedin the analysis.The fol- than 2 m to that of the tree measured. lowing 5 variableswere evaluatedfor each roost and con- trol tree: Valuesfor roostand control trees were compared by Mann- Whitney U-tests(Siegel 1956). 1) Maximum DBH (cm); Food habits were studied in the 4 largest roostsby 2) Height (m) measuredwith opticalinstruments; analyzing pellets collected from beneath the roost trees 3) Number of trees (>15 cm DBH) in a 10 m radius; during September1988. Bones,hair and feathersobtained Table 2. Gomparisonbetween the characteristicsof roost(r) and control (c) trees in each of 4 main roosts.In roost 1, the 3 nuclei(A, B, and G) havebeen considered separately. Mean, standarddeviation (parentheses) and significanceof the differencesfor eachvariable are shown(Mann-Whitney U-tests). ROOSTS 1A lB 1C 2 3 4 R C R C R C R C R C R C N=5 N=5 N=6 N=6 N=5 N=5 N=9 N=12 N=6 N=8 N=13 N=7 1) Diameter (cm) 43.2 40.0 34.3 26.2 a 36.0 41.6 23.1 22.2 40.2 31.0 b 45.6 29.0 b (12.2) (9.0) (5.7) (3.3) (9.1) (12.1) (2.5) (2.5) (6.3) (5.7) (12.1) (9.6) 2) Height (m) 6.5 8.3 10.1 9.0 6.4 5.4 14.9 15.0 15.3 11.9 a 10.0 6.7 (2.2) (1.9) (1.4) (1.3) (1.1) (1.3) (0.3) (0.0) (1.8) (2.6) (2.4) (1.1) 3) Number of 0.6 1.6a 3.2 6.3 b 1.0 3.8 a 11.3 15.6 b 5.0 4.5 1.6 1.1 trees (0.6) (1.8) (1.5) (2.2) (0.7) (2.3) (2.2) (2.6) (2.4) (3.3) (1.0) (0.9) 4) Foliage(1-5) 5.0 1.8b 2.7 2.7 4.8 1.4 b 2.1 2.0 2.7 1.8 2.6 2.6 (0.0) (0.8) (0.8) (0.8) (0.5) (0.6) (0.3) (0.0) (0.8) (0.5) (1.0) (1.3) 5) Open space(%) 94.0 77.0 53.3 45.8 96.0 62.0 a 60.6 22.9 c 72.5 71.9 73.9 87.0 (13.4) (22.8) (12.1) (31.7) (8.9) (29.7) (12.1) (18.6) (14.8) (23.0) (21.4) (15.0) a p < 0.05; b p < 0.01; c p < 0.001. SPRING-SUMMER 1990 EGYPTIAN VULTURE ROOSTS 21 from pelletswere classifiedby comparisonwith collections Table 3. Resultsof pellet analysisof roostingEgyptian and occasionallyby consultingidentification keys (Faliu Vultures(values represent frequency of ap- et al. 1980, Pinto 1980). Most of the EgyptianVulture's pearanceper pellet). foodcomes from carrionwhich is difficultto quantify. For this reason,we decidedto estimateonly frequenciesof appearance/pellet(number of occurrencesx 100/total Roost numberof pellets)and not to calculatenumeric and bio- 1 2 3 4 massfrequencies. Seasonalchanges in numberof roostingEgyptian Vul- Mammals tures were studiedin the roostwhere the largestnumber Oryctolagus of birdswere present.We conductedcounts weekly from the end of February to the end of September1988. Counts cuniculus(wild) 42.4 16.7 4.1 19.1 were made at the end of the day by 2-3 observersworking Unidentified rodent -- 1.5 4.1 3.2 in such a way that the whole roost could be coveredsi- Eelis catus -- 1.5 6.1 -- multaneously.In other speciesof roostingvultures (Ca- Canisfamiliaris 1.7 -- 4.1 6.4 thartidae), countsare done on birds departing from the Meles meles -- 1.5 -- -- roostin the early morningdue to difficultyin conducting Vulpesvulpes 1.7 -- -- -- observationsin treeswith densefoliage (Sweeney and Fra- Equus caballus -- -- 2.0 -- ser 1986). Egyptian Vultures, however,roost in treeswith Susscrofa (domestic) 33.9 47.0 8.2 20.6 little foliage or, as often happens, in dead trees. Thus, Susscrofa (wild) -- 3.0 4.1 -- determiningnumbers in the eveningbefore darkness was Bos taurus 1.7 7.6 14.3 4.8 relativelyeasy. Three ageclasses (juvenile, immature and adult) were distinguishedby differencesin plumagecol- Ovisaries 20.3 50.0 73.5 22.2 oration(see Porter et al. 1974, Cramp and Simmons1980). Capra hircus -- 1.5 -- -- Telescopes(20-90 x) were usedin all observationsat dis- Unidentified mammal 8.5 1.5 2.0 1.6 tancesranging between 200 and 500 m. Birds Gallusgallus 54.2 25.8 10.2 95.2 RESULTS Corvus rnonedula -- -- 2.0 -- Description of Roostsand Tree Characteris- Unidentified Corvidae 1.7 4.6 -- 1.6 Unidentified birds 3.4 3.0 -- 6.4 tics. Six Egyptian Vulture communalroosts were located. General roost characteristics are described Reptiles ;n Table 1. Four roostswere in pine trees, 1 in Lacertalepida 1.7 -- -- -- Europeanwhite poplar (Populusalba), and 1 on a Fishes clay cliff. The maximumnumber of EgyptianVul- Unidentified fishes -- -- -- 1.6 tures observedin each roost was highly variable Invertebrates (max = 138; min = 8).
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