Assamo's movements in January

Assamo has spent all of January around Tadjoura and Obock.  It has made a few visits to Tadjoura town, and the abattoir where it was caught in March 2013.  Despite the abundant available food at the abattoir, Assamo has not visited it since he was caught, suggesting to us that an effect of the trapping is that birds might avoid the capture area.

Movements of Assamo during January 2014.

Locations of Assaamo in Tadjoura.  The abattoir is located where the three locations at the west end of town are.

How Assamo spent the New Year

Near the end of 2013 Assamo was located in and around the Ethiopian town of Adigala. Then on the 30th, he left and headed back into Djibouti.  The tracking data suggest that he averaged about 30 km per hour during one stretch of the move.  By the 31st he was back in northeastern Djibouti north of the town of Obock, and was there on 4 January.  His last location was about 22 km north of Obock, and about 44 km from Ras Siyan, which is the Djibouti side of the Bab el Mandeb Strait.  We'll wait and see if Assamo makes the jump across the strait this spring.

Assamo's movements during 22 December 2013 - 4 January 2014,

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.