Status of Egyptian Vulture (Neophron Percnopterus)

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Status of Egyptian Vulture (Neophron percnopterus) in Sicily Author(s): Maurizio Sarà, Salvatore Grenci, Massimiliano Di Vittorio Source: Journal of Raptor Research, 43(1):66-69. Published By: The Raptor Research Foundation DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3356/JRR-08-27.1 URL: http://www.bioone.org/doi/full/10.3356/JRR-08-27.1

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J. Raptor Res. 43(1):66–69 E 2009 The Raptor Research Foundation, Inc.

STATUS OF EGYPTIAN VULTURE (NEOPHRON PERCNOPTERUS) IN SICILY

MAURIZIO SARA` 1 Department of Animal Biology, University of Palermo, Via Archirafi 18, 93100 Palermo, Italy

SALVATORE GRENCI Via Sturzo 67, 92100 Agrigento, Italy

MASSIMILIANO DI VITTORIO Department of Animal Biology, University of Palermo, Via Archirafi 18, 93100 Palermo, Italy

The Egyptian Vulture (Neophron percnopterus) has been nesting season, but disappeared (usually in May–early recently classified as endangered on the IUCN Red List June), and pairs that laid eggs but were unsuccessful in (BirdLife International 2008) due to the dramatic decline fledging young. of many Asian and Indian populations, a decrease that It was not possible to monitor all the breeding territories duplicated that in European countries at the end of the every year, but the availability of several years of data al- twentieth century (Dona´zar 1994; Levy 1996; Gallardo and lowed us to calculate the proportion (pi) of sites occupied Penteriani 1999). The critically endangered Italian popu- every year by pairs and single birds, and to calculate the lation (Bulgarini et al. 1998) currently inhabits southern mean pi; later, the number of sites of known status was Apennines and Sicily (Liberatori and Massa 1992; Libera- multiplied by the mean pi to estimate the local population tori and Penteriani 2001). The Sicilian population, which size. Annual productivity was expressed as the number of lives exclusively in the central and western part of the fledglings divided by the number of breeding pairs, where- island (elevation 400–1000 m a.s.l.), was estimated at 30 as fledging rate was defined as the number of fledglings pairs between 1970 and 1980 (Iapichino and Massa divided by the number of successful pairs. 1989). However, in approximately ten years (1990–2000), Supplemental Feeding. In ten breeding attempts of there was an intensification of agriculture in inland Sicily three pairs (pair 1: 1998 and 2002–2006; pair 2: 2006; pair (ISTAT 2000), with an increase in irrigated croplands and 3: 1998 and 2002–2003), we tested the effect of supple- concomitant decrease in traditional livestock manage- mental feeding. Once every 7–10 d, from April to August, ment. we provided 10–15 kg of chicken ribs and beef chops at The goals of our study were to: (1) evaluate the recent fixed points close to the nests (200–500 m). status of the Sicilian breeding population; (2) describe Statistical Analyses. The Mann-Whitney U-test, with P breeding performance in the last 18 yr (1990–2007); and adjusted for small-sized samples, was used to test for signif- (3) investigate possible causes and conservation measures icant differences in annual productivity and fledging rate to prevent extirpation of the population. in the periods 1990–1999 vs. 2000–2007, which corre- sponds to periods before and after the significant agricul- METHODS tural habitat change in Sicily. We also used the Mann-Whit- Territory Occupancy and Reproductive Rates. From ney U-test, with adjusted P, to evaluate the effect of food 1990 to 2007, we checked 23 breeding territories of the supplementation on the three breeding pairs by compar- Egyptian Vulture in Sicily from a safe distance using bin- ing the number of fledglings in years with and without oculars and spotting scopes, three or more times in food provisioning. March–May (territory occupancy and egg-laying), June– July (late incubation and early nestling phase) and Au- RESULTS gust–September (fledging) periods. Using field observa- From 1990–2007, we checked territories a total of 168 tions of breeding behavior at nests during those periods, times. We documented 131 breeding attempts, and 37 we defined territorial pairs as those occupying breeding single adults at breeding sites. The mean pi of occupied sites, breeding pairs as those laying eggs (Steenhof sites was 0.32 6 0.11 for pairs and 0.09 6 0.08 for singles, 1987), and a breeding attempt as a nest in which a pair corresponding to an estimated population size of 7 6 2 have laid eggs in one year. Successful pairs were defined as pairs and 2 6 1 singles. We monitored 122 of 131 breeding those that fledged at least one young (Steenhof 1987). attempts to measure reproductive performance, and found Failures included pairs that held a territory early in the 75% of them successful (Fig. 1), corresponding to an average annual number of successful pairs of 5.11 6 1.71 (N 1 Email address: [email protected] 5 92). The average number of young fledged per breeding MARCH 2009 SHORT COMMUNICATIONS 67

Figure 1. Estimated population trend of the Egyptian Vulture (Neophron percnopterus) in Sicily. Solid line 5 number of territorial pairs; dotted line 5 number of breeding pairs; dashed line 5 number of successful pairs per year.

pair was 0.92 6 0.29 (N 5 122), and 22.7% of those suc- and husbandry also decreased dramatically (245% sheep, cessful fledged two young vultures. We assessed causes of 238% goats, 240% domestic fowl, 258% pigs), and 15 of breeding failures and nest desertions in nine of 30 cases; the 17 garbage dumps active in the Egyptian Vulture core- eight of nine were of anthropogenic origin (five nest site area were closed between 1986 and 2003. disturbances, one killing, one poisoning, and one theft of We found that reproductive rate (number of young per young). Breeding failures and nest desertions were record- breeding pair and number of young per successful pair) ed at least once at most territories (20 of 23), and averaged did not vary significantly during our study, and were sim- 1.0 6 0.94 during the 1990–1999 decade and significantly ilar to those recorded in other European areas (Garzoń more (2.5 6 1.19; U 5 14; P 5 0.02) during 2000–2007. 1973; Bergier and Cheylan 1980; Dona´zar and Ceballos Annual productivity (U 5 38.50; P 5 0.90) and fledging 1988; Liberatori and Massa 1992). Thus, the pairs that rate (U 5 33.00; P 5 0.57) did not differ between the two bred were able to produce typical numbers of young. study periods. Food availability (Levy and Segev 1996) and human dis- Three pairs provided with food supplementation raised turbance near the nesting sites (Zuberogoitia et al. 2008) more young (1.4 6 0.70; N 5 10 breeding attempts) in were the most common causes of nest site desertion and of years with food supplements than they did in years without variability in breeding success. These may be related, and it (1.1 6 0.58; N 5 18 breeding attempts; U 5 53; P 5 0.046). is difficult to separate their effects, as both habitat loss and livestock reduction often result from intensification of dry DISCUSSION and traditional agricultural systems (Donald et al. 2001, In Sicily, the number of nesting pairs has decreased Brotons et al. 2004), causing both a loss of food and in- since 1980, with considerable fluctuation, possibly because creased human disturbance around nesting sites. In this of the small sample size (Fig. 1). The distribution of Egyp- respect the Egyptian Vulture is particularly exposed to an- tian Vultures on Sicily is correlated to natural Mediterra- thropogenic disturbances and mortality, because it prefers nean vegetation and arid uplands, and, within these land- nesting on low cliffs (Sara` and Di Vittorio 2003). scapes, livestock density is the best factor predicting the Current biodiversity policy in the European Union is presence of nesting birds (Sara` and Di Vittorio 2003). In focused on halting the loss of biodiversity (European Com- Sicily, the fifth census of agriculture (ISTAT 2000) dem- mission 2006), and, under the premises of the Nature 2000 onstrated, from 1990 to 2000, an increase (+12.6%) in Network, every country has significant responsibilities for irrigated cropland, which corresponded to a decrease the species listed in the 79/409/CEE Annex 1. Therefore, (211.1%) in traditional dry cereal farming. Livestock the two small Italian populations, i.e., the 16 6 5 birds 68 SHORT COMMUNICATIONS VOL. 43, NO.1 here reported for Sicily plus the 2–5 known in Calabria (G. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Cortone and M. Di Vittorio unpubl. data) must be protect- We thank Ainara Corte´s-Avizanda, Martina Carrete, and ed to avoid regional loss of biodiversity and the extirpation an anonymous referee for useful comments on an early of the species in Italy. Furthermore, the removal or reduc- draft of this paper. Funding was provided by the ex-60% tion of the causes of population declines, even in such grant of Palermo University, years 2003 and 2004. small populations, may improve the status of the European population, because the Egyptian Vulture is a regular mi- LITERATURE CITED grant species all around the Mediterranean Sea (Agostini AGOSTINI, N., G. PREMUDA,U.MELLONE,M.PANUCCIO,D. et al. 2004). We recommend that conservation actions be LOGOZZO,E.BASSI, AND L. COCCHI. 2004. Crossing the directed toward maintaining or ameliorating the quality of sea en route to Africa: autumn migration of some Ac- the species’ potential habitat along the migration routes in cipitriformes over two central Mediterranean islands. this region. Additionally, because the reduction in tradi- Ring 26:71–78. tional agro-grazing farming has resulted in a diminished BERGIER,P.AND G. CHEYLAN. 1980. Statut, succe`s de repro- number of livestock carcasses, we recommend that a per- duction et alimentation du Vautour Percnopte`re Neo- manent array of artificial feeding stations be established. phron percnopterus en France me´diterraneénne. Alauda This remedy is frequently adopted in Europe (Terrasse 48:75–97. 1985; Gallardo et al. 1987; Liberatori and Cortone 1991, BIRDLIFE INTERNATIONAL. 2008. Species factsheet: Neophron Gomez et al. 2001) and the Middle East (Levy 1991). 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