Endangered Long-Billed Vultures closer to extinction?

Ramanagar: The critically endangered Long- Billed Vultures have not bred at Ramadevara Betta Vulture Sanctuary for the last two years, worrying birdwatchers who fear these scavenging birds may be pushed even closer to extinction.

Mr Shashikumar of the Karnataka Vulture Conservation Trust,  who regularly monitors the nesting of the vultures in the sanctuary that is spread over 856 acres, says he sighted a Long-Billed Vulture egg on a hillock in Ramadevara Betta last season but suspects it has fallen prey to a Booted Eagle, a natural enemy.  This season he claims to have seen a female in an incubating position on the hillock  but says no chick has emerged  so far. “By this time we should have had chicks of Long -Billed Vultures emerging out of the nests,” he says with concern, clearly worried that the last time a vulture chick was born in the sanctuary was in 2014-15. Not losing hope, however, he has his fingers crossed that the six Long-Billed Vultures in the sanctuary will eventually lay eggs  as the breeding season lasts from November to  March.

Once sighted in good numbers, the population of these vultures is thought to have  dwindled  owing to the fact that they lay eggs in the open while perched on boulders, leaving them open to attack by other birds. Although the White-Rumped Vultures and Red-Headed Vultures were also documented at the sanctuary in the past, they have migrated elsewhere and are now frequently sighted in Bandipur and the Rajiv Gandhi National Park. 

But the Egyptian Vulture continues to share the sanctuary with the Long- billed Vultures, and its numbers are relatively good. A couple of chicks were added to its population last season, going by birdwatchers.

Forest officials said both the Long-Billed Vultures and Egyptian Vultures breed as expected at the sanctuary.