Griffon Vulture Webcam in Israel

[Marbzy]

Mom and Dad at the dinner table:


Dad wasted no time:


The feeding took about ten minutes:

[Marbzy]

Some of the results were clear to see:


Others took a little longer to be exposed:


A well-fed chick:

[Marbzy]

Another, smaller party was held at the feeding station:


Some noise was heard:


Then a couple of Egyptians took over at the station:

[Marbzy]

The chick was already asleep at the time:


Then the station was abandoned by the birds for the night:


The chick grew lively towards 10 pm:

[Marbzy]

The crop was still huge:


And that will be good night to the 76-day-old:



I may have missed the actual fledging, but was lucky enough to see the senior fledgeling take wing today. This image is going to stick in the head for a while:

[Marbzy]

7 August

My final pre-holiday report

Hai-Bar Carmel (i.e. the northern nest and feeding station):

One of the parents did some sightseeing at the feeding station in the morning (the time when the camera is turned on, roughly speaking):


A little later the chick got fed (though only a little) by Mom:


All bristled up and begging:

[Marbzy]

An unusual visitor arrived at 9:30:


Not the warmest of greetings:


This specimen of the Egyptian vulture had a very lionlike appearance:

[Marbzy]

The visit ended at 10:16:


The heat was on:


Mom sprung to life at 15:39:

[Marbzy]

Ten minutes later she was operating at the feeding station:


She soon had company:


She got driven back from the dining table, in fact:

[Marbzy]

Two more giffons joined the party, including J80:


More incoming traffic:


Another one arrives to bite the carrion:

[Marbzy]

It was quite some crowd indeed:


Griffons do not look particularly elegant as they descend towards the ground:


Quite a few wings were flailed, quite a few necks were extended:

[Marbzy]

At least two major parties were in progress:


What's all that frightful noise?


The griffons seemed to have called a parliament:

[Marbzy]

But tempers flared aplenty:


T44 watched on as one of parents (Dad, I'd say) was crossing the field stelathily:


A family reunion:

[Marbzy]

Dad jumped into the nest box to feed the little one:


But the feeding was both short and held behind closed doors:


Individual griffons enjoyed the silence:

[Marbzy]

The chick put in an evening cameo...:


... and kept asking for food...:


... until Mom handed out the sternest of parental looks:

[Marbzy]

A two-headed vulture beast:


Or two happy adoptive parents:


Good night!


This chick, who hatched at the Jerusalem Zoo on 23 May is exactly 11 weeks old tonight (and may be expected to take about two more months to fledge).

[Marbzy]

The Negev camera was preoccupied with the Egyptian vulture fledgelings today - at least one of them is happy to spend a lot of time at the nest (the other was seen there too):


And then it's time to say goodbye to the senior griffon fledgeling. The fledgeling was caught on camera today being fed by Dad (T49) at a different location than normally (the other side of the canyon, quite close to the camera).

And then the juvenile bird flew away:


It was a thoroughly enjoyable and in many ways eye-opening experience to follow this bird from the day (s)he hatched (or even a couple of weeks earlier, though without documenting at first) until today.

The conservation efforts of the Raptor Nest Cam Crew of the Israel Ornithological Center have been noticed and appreciated internationally:


Good night.

And good-bye:

[Abigyl]

SATURDAY, AUGUST 15th

All Israeli cameras are off, only the Northern Griffon which wasn't on the list, is still working.

If they closed the NEGEV, it means that the last EGY also fledged .

Marbzy,
Thanks for all your explanations and pics; you did an important piece of work

Today, I enjoyed watching the Little-Giant; He is so big and beautiful
I left the sound open and heard him "barking" for hours He is not calling like a bird.

[sova]

...
And good-bye:
...

Marbzy
I endorse Abigyl's words ... you did a wonderful job.
I really enjoyed your postings

[Marbzy]

, Abigyl, sova!

Thank you for your kind words. Covering the griffons was - most of the time - a lonely pursuit, so it's good to know that it the vultures did have an audience.

A quick update: the Negev coverage appears to be over. Last Sunday, Israel Raptor Nest Cam uploaded a video showing both the griffon chicks - you'll find it on FB and soon probably on YT as well. The two fledgelings have been spotted together a couple of times: 1 and 7 August. The senior fledgeling has been filmed thereafter, too - (s)he even spent the whole night on 9/10 August at the original nest (left it at 6 am on 10 August). The junior fledgeling has not been seen around for over a week now, which is potentially worrying as (s)he has only one parent to look after him/her - it's unlikely that the drone mother could be able to feed the juvenile at this critical time.

Up in the north, the chick is now 87 days old and for the last week or so has been making his/her first attempts to sleep standing up (not the whole night, obviously). On 10 August the chick was ringed (off camera) and may since be identified as H17. Several food deliveries have taken place in the past few days. On one occasion (I think it was 14 August) the viewers also got a demonstration of how carrion skin ought to be slit open for the entrails to (presumably) give off a stronger smell and to become more easily accessible for visitors of all species (crows, ravens, Egyptian vultures, griffons and jackals have been observed taking advantage of the delivieries). It may incidentally be concluded that griffons prefer lamb to beef. An they don't mind pork, either - the pig delivered today has fed several dozen birds, including H17's Mom and Dad, of course (their crops were absolutely huge just a couple of hours ago).

Griffon vultures are only one of the 16 species of old world vultures. Extinct today in many areas (including my own country or its southern neighbours) where they used to be resident just over/under a century ago, they are facing a very uncertain future. In this thread I have embedded relatively few videos. One of those videos features cameraman and naturalist Charlie Hamilton James feeding a juvenile Rüppell's griffon vulture. This man has done a lot more to draw attention to the current plight of vultures in Africa. Before you watch the video below, note that some of its content is quite graphic - but it's got to be:



We need vultures. As a starting point, let's be aware of them.