my blog 2021 - Cyprus's natural and bird life in current photos
In my blog I currently reports about bird life and nature of the island of Cyprus with Infos, images and
videos. Older blog articles can be found in the Blog Archives
Enter your search termKostis, young griffon vulture released after recovery
The EU project "LIFE with Vultures", which is managed by BirdLife Cyprus and the Game and Fauna Service, is primarily designed to protect this bird species, which is at home in Cyprus.
The griffon vulture population in Cyprus urgently needs this protection, as birds repeatedly decimate the group through poisoned food and also through shootings.
2020 I was invited to observe a nest with young bird and to document this breeding with photo and video.
At the end of August 2020, the young griffon vulture I observed left its nest for the first time, as far as so good.
Three weeks later, an attentive farmer discovered an incapacitated vulture near its fields. Emaciated to 4.2 kg weight, the plumage full of parasites, so the young vulture was found there by the
Game Found specialists and provided by Vet with medical care. Afterwards, he was placed in a shelter of the "Game and Fauna Department" for further care and pupings.
Now, after almost 4 months of care and medical care by the team of the "Game and Fauna" Department, the young griffon vulture with 7 kg live weight, healthy could be released back to freedom. The
young vulture was given the name "Kostis", the obligatory foot ring and additionally a small GPS photovoltaic transmitter, so that you can always locate its position.
Let us keep our fingers crossed for his future. My thanks to the group of the "Game and Fauna Service" and "BirdLife Cyprus" for the good care of the young vulture.
Kostis, a young griffon vulture, born in 2020 in Cyprus.
Kostis is a young griffon vulture, born 2020 in Cyprus.
Thefootage were taken during the monitoring of the nest as part of the EU project - LIFE with
Vultures - which was created to protect griffon vultures in Cyprus.
The video shows the behaviour of the young Kostis at the nesting site in the last weeks before his first flight. The changing distance of the cameras to the nest is approx. 120 to 150 m.
The video can be found on my YouTube channel at
https://youtu.be/o0UhdgOBo8M