04.09.2018.
The proposal for the project “Management of the population of Griffon Vulture using satellite technology” was initiated by the The Bird of Prey Protection Foundation and it was supported by the Ministry of Environmental Protection in April 2018 at a competition funds to support civil society projects in the field of environmental protection.
Project data:
– The project is under the auspices of the Ministry of Environmental Protection
– The project is implemented by the The Bird of Prey Protection Foundation, Belgrade
– Partners on the project are:
1. Institute for Biological Research “Siniša Stankovic”
2. JP “Rezervat Uvac” d.o.o. i
3. “BeoZoo Garden”
The project helped by:
– Telekom Srbija a.d.
– Publikum d.o.o. Belrade
– DSP Chromatography
– Filip Travel
– Alpine Speleological Academic Club (ASAK)
– Speleological club “Ponir”, Banja Luka
The project has II phases:
Phase I was completed in June 2018, and refers to the marking of young Griffon Vultures on the nest. Two alpine-speleological teams and ornithologists worked on nests, taking morphometric parameters of youngsters, samples for the DNA base, and introducing individuals into a single record. 21 birds have been successfully marked.
Phase II of the project is ongoing and involves a whole range of activities on the preparation and realization of capture, marking, introduction to records, according to standardized protocols of adult birds by the trap in the Uvac Reserve, as well as analysis and presentation of the data to the public.
Within the Phase II, the key part of the Project is the installation of satellite platforms (transmitters) to three Griffon Vultures, which will allow daily real-time monitoring with a large amount of data. One of the marked birds is the bird that was hatched in captivity, from the “ex-situ” bird protection program, which is being implemented by BeoZoo garden.
Most of the Phase II activities have already been implemented:
1. All three transmitters have been received and tested.
2. Licenses of the Ministry of Environmental Protection for activities on the project have been obtained.
3. The Griffon Vulture who was born into the BeoZoo garden in 2016, called “Piroćanac”, was successfully transferred to the Birds Center at Uvac, where he was on the adjustment of the environment.
4. The Uvcu trap was restored and activated.
5. The WEB site of the Foundation was reconstructed in order to display the results of the satellite monitoring and other activities on the project.
6. Promotional material was prepared and distributed.
7. The International Meeting “International Vulture Awareness Day” was organized.
8. Three Griffon Vultures are equipped with satellite transmitters and released.
Now we are analyzing and presenting data.
