Assamo: 1-17 December 2013.

On 21 November Assamo moved back from the Ethiopian town of Adigala to northern Djibouti.  See last post.  He has moved around Obock and in the vicinity of Tadjoura (interestingly we have not yet recorded him revisiting the abattoir were he was first captured).  Surprisingly, on 16 December Assamo returned to Adigala.

Also, on 30 November there were two interesting locations over the sea about 5 km from land. Vultures are soaring birds and in general avoid flying over large areas of open water because these places normally do not have strong thermal updrafts.  Also, this is not migration time.

Assamo's movements during late November - early December.  The southerly cluster of locations is around Adigala.

Assamo back in Djibouti

Early on 20 November Assamo was still hanging around Adigala, where he has been since the beginning of July (almost 5 months...look at earlier posts).  However, he started to move on that day and in the evening roosted about 20 km NW of the Djiboutian town of Ali Sabieh.  On 21 November Assamo left his roost early and by 0930 was already at a location about 15 km NE of Tadjoura (where he was caught back in March).  He has stayed in that area since, and on 29 November was located about 30 km NW of Obock. Interestingly, since moving into Djibouti, he seems now to be moving around amongst small settlements, rather than focusing on a larger population center like Adigala.

Assamo moves back to Djibouti, late November 2013.

Just as Assamo has left Ethiopia, another has arrived from Bulgaria.  Have a look at the the movements of Svetlina.

Finally, some more bad news about poisoning of vultures in southern Africa:  https://www.facebook.com/andre.botha3/posts/10151763127104080:0 

A little variety

Just when I was tiring of looking at week after week of Assamo staying in and around Adigala, Ethiopia, he varied his behaviour just a bit.  During 5-19 November, most of the activity was in the vicinity of Adigala, but on 10-11 November Assamo headed northeast as far as the Djibouti border near Dewele, a move of about 100 km, one way.  At one point Assamo was < 500 m from being back in Djibouti.

127589's movements during 5-19 November 2013.  The more southerly cluster of locations is the town of Adigala.  The most northerly is near Dewele.

Also, electrical infrastructure including pylons can pose threats to vultures, but they are also ideal perching locations.  See below.

Locations at a power pylon. Power infrastructure can pose threats to vultures, but in this case Assamo used the pylon as a perching place.

If you are interested in sooty falcon migration that we are tracking then have a look at our other blog  http://sootyfalcon.blogspot.co.at/

Also, don't forget to visit the Vulture Chronicles, where news about hooded vultures is available http://hawkmountain.wordpress.com/

Still Adigala

Assamo has remained in Adigala and the surrounding area during 14-27 October.  It seems to roost mostly on power lines to the south and commute into the town every day,  Maybe these are not the most exciting movements, but it is still interesting because we know so little about the movement of Egyptian vultures in this (or any other) area.

Movements by Assamo during 14-27 October 2013.

Assamo is settled

During the past 10 days Assamo has been behaving much as it has over the past few months.  He has stayed in and around Adigala, Ethiopia.  When he is not in the town it seems that he spends time roosting along the surrounding roads, presumably on electricity pylons.

In another vulture development, Hawk Mountain had fitted four hooded vultures with transmitters in the Gambia.  Have a look at what they are doing:  http://hawkmountain.wordpress.com/

Assamo's locations during 4-10 October, 2013.

Assamo still in Adigala

Assamo spent early September mostly around Adigala (See map below).  His movements during these two weeks are very similar to movements in the past three months.  On 8-10 October he did make an excursion about 9 km to the north.  There he spent time near a new road that runs through the hills just south of a mining operation.  I tried to find out about mining in the area using the internet, but did not have any luck.  The Adigala block is an area being leased for oil exploration, but I think this is at a quite early stage and I don't know if any exploration wells have been drilled yet.  Does anyone know about mining activity north of Adigala?

Assamo's movements 1-16 September 2013.

In other vulture news...

Bulgarian Egyptian vultures are on the move: http://lifeneophron.eu/en/news-view/196.html
In Andalucia Egyptian vultures are breeding again   www.4vultures.org/news  They had been extirpated three years ago, but an anti poisoning campaign seems to be reaping benefits.

 

Even more Adigala...3 September 2013

 REMINDER: SEPTEMBER 7 IS INTERNATIONAL VULTURE AWARENESS DAY

Assamo has spent the last two weeks where it has been since late June.  So, it has been scavenging in and around Adigala for almost 3 months now.  It did make a brief excursion during 30-31 August to locations SSW of the town, near the village of Ghedid Cali. Ghedid Cali is on the road toward Dire Dawa.  Does anyone know anything about Ghedid Cali?  It must be a very small place.  The satellite image used by Google Earth is not very good.

Assamo's movements during 13 August - 3 September 2013.

As with previous blogs the pattern of locations suggest that Assamo is perching often on the power transmission pylons.  The map below also shows that his movements are mostly on the outskirts of town.  I suppose that this is because people will dispose of their waste outside the town and its likely that the slaughter house is also away from town centre. 

Assamo seems to frequent the outskirts of Adigala.

Finally... some bad news, and what is being done about it:

From National Geographic

From Birdlife

Three pieces from Stoycho Stoychev, Bulgarian Society for the Protection of Birds

http://bspb.org/show/2759-33

http://bspb.org/show/2756-33

http://lifeneophron.eu/en/news-view/187.html