Griffon Vulture Webcam in Israel

[Marbzy]

14:11 Dad's red head and massive crop mean that he's saved quite some food for a rainy day


14:11 The chick continues to beg even after Dad's departure (though Dad might still be on the left-hand section of the ledge)


14:48 The chick is well out of his/her comfort zone

[Marbzy]

15:38 The heat is driving the chick up the wall (or down the wall, if you think of the head)


15:43 Now the chick decides to take matters into his/her own claws


15:44 Weighing up the options?

[Marbzy]

15:49 All of a sudden, the chick finds him-/herself in a new territory


15:58 The little has climbed onto the stones to the right of the nest


16:06 Thankfully, the camera operator reacts to the development

[Marbzy]

16:10 And then the camera operator produces a perfect anticlimax


18:16 It's great to know that the Egyptian vulture chicks are doing fine, but...


18:53 Dad's back to serve supper

[Marbzy]

18:54 This feeding is quickly over too


18:54 As Dad takes off, his crop almost drags him down the canyon


18:55 Things go back to, er..., normal?

[Marbzy]

19:38 It looks as though the parents are providing just enough food to sustain the chick (Dad wasn't willing to empty his crop into the chick's beak) in order to motivate him/her to leave the nest...


20:12 Evening yoga


21:31 Perhaps tomorrow will bring some relief: air temperature at the Negev is forecast to climb down to 33 degrees centigrade tomorrow (and then to 22 degrees on Sunday...)


Good night to the 89-day-old

[Marbzy]

22 May

04:53 Good morning!


04:54 No, the little one is not asleep


04:56 As a matter of fact, (s)he might be feeling a little adventurous, this being the coolest time of the day

[Marbzy]

04:59 Let's see what's going on down in the canyon


04:59 The chick is not going to jump the gun...


05:00 ... and is dozing again just moments later

[Polly]

Time has passed quickly. It felt like yesterday that you had to look for the little vulture in the photo. He / she is a beautiful animal! And as lazy as it is huge. I do not know whether the chick may use good thermals very quickly one day and just fly off or actually practice a lot beforehand? It's just convenient at the moment.
It remains exciting.

[Marbzy]

Polly! Thanks for interrupting my monologue - it's good to know this is not just a private archive

To be honest, I'm really curious to see if (and how, and how much) the chick exercises before the first flight. Incidentally, there are reports of first flights of griffon fledgelings that ended in a disaster - youngsters falling down the cliff on which they'd been reared and being killed by predators on the ground or drowning in the sea after being unable to return to the home cliff (see The status and conservation of Griffon Vulture (Gyps fulvus) in Cyprus by S. Iezekiel, D.E. Bakaloudis and C.G. Vlachos). This chick is definitely not going to drown, but his/her first flight is bound to be a nervous occasion for me.

There's also an interesting 50-minute Turkish documentary on the black vulture which shows a black vulture engaging in laborious exercise before taking off for real for the first time. Admittedly, cinereous vultures tend to nest in tree tops, which give them a completely different platform for exercising - the griffons' ledge does not offer sufficient space even for a young griffon to jump up and hover over the nest.

I guess the best solution is to wait and see.

And now: back to 22 May, a day which saw plenty of traffic on the ledge.

05:30 A quiet start to the day


10:06 The chick has grown a beautiful feather boa


10:08 Enter Mom

[Marbzy]

10:16 Mom's job is done, but the chick keeps begging, beating his/her wings against the nest floor


10:17 The chick is still demanding to be fed while Mom's already gliding away


10:17 It finally occurs to the youngster that the meal is over

[Marbzy]

10:19 The good news is that the chick's crop has finally attained a rounded appearance


12:08 But though there's virtually no activity on the ledge, two hours later that feeding seems a very distant memory


12:34 Mom's back and she's wiping her beak against the rock, which usually indicated that a meal's finished

[Marbzy]

12:34 The chick is putting on that begging act again


12:35 Just look at Mom's crop (somebody's doing a great job making sure adults griffon are able to raise their young)


12:41 Mom's not feeding her little one anymore, but she's in no hurry

[Marbzy]

12:45 Her visit lasted more than 10 minutes


12:58 Learning by watching?


13:03 Everybody needs a break sometimes

[Marbzy]

14:21 The chick is not exploring uncharted sections of the ledge today, but is much more active than yesterday or the day before


14:43 The heat is clearly not as bad today


14:49 Mom for (at least) the third time!

[Marbzy]

14:50 The wind carries her at an angle as she departs


14:51 The chick's landed a bite or two in his/her crop


14:51 The chick as a porcupine

[Marbzy]

14:51 The chick is looking forward to another meal!


14:52 And here's the provider


14:52 As usual, it's hard to see what's on the menu and even harder to document it, but I did get to see some meat change beaks

[Marbzy]

14:53 This was an extra quick feeding


14:54 But in a way it's great to see the parents still putting in a lot of work


14:54 Is that a thank you? The crop is there again

[Marbzy]

15:08 The chick's comfortable enough to stay in the sun


17:39 Pretty much at the same spot again


18:10 A little weary?

[Marbzy]

18:27 Flat on the ground but watching his/her back


19:50 And then the chick wanders off to the right, nearly out of view


23:35 That's much better, thank you. The chick is sleeping like an adult again


The chick is exactly 90 days old tonight. Good night to him/her