Egyptian Vulture is the bird of 2025. Three years of work by our team to conserve this species

In 2025, members of the Association for the Conservation of Biodiversity (a href="https://www.brcc.kz/en/partners-and-associates/association-for-the-conservation-of-biodiversity-of-kazakhstan/" target="_self">ACBK) selected the Egyptian Vulture as the bird of the year in Kazakhstan. We would like to share the results of the last three years of our work aimed at vultures conservation.

1. Publication of an up-to-date estimation of the abundance of Egyptian vultures in Kazakhstan, based on field research and ecological niche modeling. The study was conducted by Karyakin et al. (2023) and can be accessed at https://www.acta-zoologica-bulgarica.eu/2023/Suppl_17_09

2. Publication of a study on Egyptian vultures in the Karatau Mountains, which provides valuable insights into their behavior and ecology. This study can be found here: http://rrrcn.ru/wp-content/uploads/rc/44/RC44_96-187_Karyakin-etal2.pdf

3. Tagging of seven Egyptian vultures with GPS/GSM trackers, revealing that vultures from Kazakhstan migrate to India and Pakistan for wintering. This information was published in a scientific article, available at http://rusraptors.ru/index.php/RC/article/view/464

4. During this time, 17 young Egyptian vultures were ringed. 13 vultures were ringed in 2022. Two birds were found eaten by large predators after 3 weeks. And 4 birds were ringed in the summer of 2024.

5. Informational booklets about Egyptian vultures in three languages (Kazakh, Russian, and Uzbek) have been prepared, as well as stickers. These booklets and stickers are being actively distributed among local residents in the southern regions of Kazakhstan, employees of national and regional nature parks and reserves, students and schoolchildren, ecologists, biologists, and all interested parties. The electronic version of these booklets can be accessed via the following link: https://www.brcc.kz/2024/09/15/booklets-on-vultures-of-central-asia/

6. Poster materials about the feathered predators of Central Asia have been prepared and ready for distribution in Russian, Kazakh, and Uzbek. We will soon publish an electronic version on our website.

7. We have prepared a significant number of posts about this species and have published them on our social media platforms. We have also held several lectures for students and colleagues from other countries and participated in live broadcasts on various platforms.

Migration maps of our tagged vultures

Conservation projects for the vulture and other scavengers in Kazakhstan will continue into 2025.

In the meantime, let's remember what beautiful sounds a young Egyptian Vulture makes: