3 young Black Vultures returned to the Nature

On November 26, at 11:30 p.m., at Portas do Ródão (Vila Velha de Ródão), the Institute for Nature Conservation and Forestry will return to nature three juveniles of black vulture born this year that were collected last October , Very weak, in areas of the districts of Lisbon and Setúbal.

The three juveniles were admitted to the Center for the Recovery of Wild Animals of Lisbon (LXCRAS), where, after evaluation of the technicians of this center, were placed in rehabilitation.

Juveniles apparently did not show any notable physical weakness but only a nutritional deficiency, so after a little more than a month they were able to be released into their natural habitat.

The specimens were duly marked with an official washer and tagged so that they can be monitored by birdwatchers and researchers, both domestic and foreign, whether they stay in Portugal or move out of our country during their Natural dispersion.

The Lx-CRAS, belonging to the Lisbon City Council, is one of the 10 recovery centers recognized by the ICNF and part of the Network of Wildlife Recovery Centers, officially established in 2009. It is a key center for receiving thousands of Specimens of wild fauna species, in particular birds, delivered to this center by private individuals or official entities, which after being rehabilitated, are returned to the places where they were collected.

The liberation will take place next to the castle of King Wamba, at the top of the "door" north of the Portas de Ródão (coordinates N 39 38 927, W 7 41 457).

The Minister of Environment João Pedro Matos Fernandes, the Secretary of State for Spatial Planning and Nature Conservation, Célia Ramos and the Secretary of State for the Environment, Carlos Martins, will attend.

Notes:

The Black Vulture has a wide distribution in the Northern Hemisphere, which extends along a strip between the Iberian Peninsula and the Balkans to the East of China.

At the national level it is a threatened species that in the Portuguese Red Book of Vertebrates (2005) is classified as "Critically Endangered" (CR), with a small population that is distributed along the western border strip but which has recently presented a tendency Population.

After more than 40 years without nesting in Portugal, this species began its reinstallation as nesting in 2010 (in the Natural Park of the International Tagus) where currently has a population composed of 12 couples. The species nests in two more regions of the country, in the Douro International Natural Park, since 2012 (1 couple) and in the Mourão-Moura-Barrancos SPA, since 2015 (2 couples).

The Black Vulture nests on trees and chooses remote, undulating plots, lined with wooded scrubs, usually holm oaks, corns or pine forests, often on steep slopes in mountainous areas or in river valleys. It feeds on medium and large carcasses such as sheep, goats, cows, deer, wild boar and also wild rabbit and practices with the griffin a cooperative system of prospecting of food.