Comments on: Community Awareness at the Ramleelas; the Corbett Vulture Campaign spreads the message, by Piers Griffith-Jones http://www.mahseerconservancy.org/blog/2009/10/14/community-awareness-at-the-ramleelas-the-corbett-vulture-campaign-spreads-the-message-by-piers-griffith-jones/ Forum for Conservation and Environment Topics... Sun, 27 Jun 2010 08:27:34 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.1 By: Rishad Naorojis http://www.mahseerconservancy.org/blog/2009/10/14/community-awareness-at-the-ramleelas-the-corbett-vulture-campaign-spreads-the-message-by-piers-griffith-jones/comment-page-1/#comment-19 Rishad Naorojis Sat, 07 Nov 2009 01:54:12 +0000 http://www.mahseerconservancy.org/blog/?p=20#comment-19 I have gone through your vulture links and am happy to note that quite a lot of baseline work has been initiated. I think monitoring of resident colonies is of prime importance. Even around colonies (roosting and/or breeding) there will be some percentage of vultures that would be flying, others which would be perched and some away foraging. Therefore, the best time to count vultures at colonies would be early morning before the thermals activate them to forage or late evening when they are at the roost. Ideally at such sites, two to three observers would be able to do more accurate counts as they could take different sections of the colony. This would ensure that there is no overlap in counting and that all vultures in a particular colony are accurately accounted for. In the last many years I have not now seen any Eurasian Griffon (anyways I now feel the few seen were probably vagrants), and therefore this species should not now be even mentioned in the vulture check list in or around the vicinity of the Park. Indian White-backed vultures were very common in the Park when I first started my studies in 1990. The species composition of vultures in the area has also changed. Today one sees many more Egyptian Vultures that one did in the 1990s while Indian White-backed is now very rare and so is the Slender-billed Vulture Gyps tenuirostris (I would suggest you now use all the latest changed scientific names from my or Pamela’s book). The Slender-billed Vulture should be the prime target for surveys (as it is the rarest) followed by the now extremely rare Indian White-backed Vulture, Egyptian Vulture (whose numbers seem to have increased over the years) and Himalayan Griffon which are as numerous as ever. Earlier very few Himalayan Griffon were to be seen inside the Park, but in some areas such as Ringora in the Park, there could be as many as 25 to 50 or even more. I have also noticed this in Halduparao. Earlier limited numbers of Cinereous Vultures were seen in the Park, but today at Ringora alone one can see as many as 20 or even more. The Red-headed Vulture does not appear to have been affected by Diclofenac. As you are monitoring the vultures outside the Park, I would suggest please get hold of Manoj Sharma to do counts of vultures within the Park mainly around Dhikala including Ringora and Fulay chaur. Over the years we will then have an idea whether wintering populations of Himalayan Griffon (which is only seen in Winter) and of other vulture species are stable or not. The rarest, of course, is the Slender-billed Vulture whose breeding success if at all needs to be monitored. Besides monitoring of colonies, if a vulture restaurant could be created around a Slender-billed colony, it would have a great positive impact on the population. Of course you will have to make sure that carcasses supplied are Diclofenac free. Get some industrial house to sponsor this and give due publicity. I would also suggest publicizing the plight of vultures especially Slender-billed and White-backed outside the Park to the surrounding villages and inhabitants of Ramnagar. An anti- Diclofenac campaign could be started, but the problem is that the alternative, Meloxicam, is for the villager, substantially more expensive. This needs to be looked into. These are my thoughts for the moment. I have gone through your vulture links and am happy to note that quite a lot of baseline work has been initiated. I think monitoring of resident colonies is of prime importance. Even around colonies (roosting and/or breeding) there will be some percentage of vultures that would be flying, others which would be perched and some away foraging. Therefore, the best time to count vultures at colonies would be early morning before the thermals activate them to forage or late evening when they are at the roost. Ideally at such sites, two to three observers would be able to do more accurate counts as they could take different sections of the colony. This would ensure that there is no overlap in counting and that all vultures in a particular colony are accurately accounted for. In the last many years I have not now seen any Eurasian Griffon (anyways I now feel the few seen were probably vagrants), and therefore this species should not now be even mentioned in the vulture check list in or around the vicinity of the Park.

Indian White-backed vultures were very common in the Park when I first started my studies in 1990. The species composition of vultures in the area has also changed. Today one sees many more Egyptian Vultures that one did in the 1990s while Indian White-backed is now very rare and so is the Slender-billed Vulture Gyps tenuirostris (I would suggest you now use all the latest changed scientific names from my or Pamela’s book). The Slender-billed Vulture should be the prime target for surveys (as it is the rarest) followed by the now extremely rare Indian White-backed Vulture, Egyptian Vulture (whose numbers seem to have increased over the years) and Himalayan Griffon which are as numerous as ever. Earlier very few Himalayan Griffon were to be seen inside the Park, but in some areas such as Ringora in the Park, there could be as many as 25 to 50 or even more. I have also noticed this in Halduparao. Earlier limited numbers of Cinereous Vultures were seen in the Park, but today at Ringora alone one can see as many as 20 or even more. The Red-headed Vulture does not appear to have been affected by Diclofenac.

As you are monitoring the vultures outside the Park, I would suggest please get hold of Manoj Sharma to do counts of vultures within the Park mainly around Dhikala including Ringora and Fulay chaur. Over the years we will then have an idea whether wintering populations of Himalayan Griffon (which is only seen in Winter) and of other vulture species are stable or not. The rarest, of course, is the Slender-billed Vulture whose breeding success if at all needs to be monitored. Besides monitoring of colonies, if a vulture restaurant could be created around a Slender-billed colony, it would have a great positive impact on the population. Of course you will have to make sure that carcasses supplied are Diclofenac free. Get some industrial house to sponsor this and give due publicity.

I would also suggest publicizing the plight of vultures especially Slender-billed and White-backed outside the Park to the surrounding villages and inhabitants of Ramnagar. An anti- Diclofenac campaign could be started, but the problem is that the alternative, Meloxicam, is for the villager, substantially more expensive. This needs to be looked into. These are my thoughts for the moment.

]]> By: Vikram Jit Singh http://www.mahseerconservancy.org/blog/2009/10/14/community-awareness-at-the-ramleelas-the-corbett-vulture-campaign-spreads-the-message-by-piers-griffith-jones/comment-page-1/#comment-14 Vikram Jit Singh Mon, 02 Nov 2009 19:08:39 +0000 http://www.mahseerconservancy.org/blog/?p=20#comment-14 It is with a lot of happiness that i read about your work in the field of vulture conservation. The efforts made by your group to reach out to people through use of popular culture was innovative. Also, the monitoring of vulture colonies and ideas like vulture restaurants are very positive work. Regards, Vikram Jit Singh The Times of india Chandigarh. It is with a lot of happiness that i read about your work in the field of vulture conservation. The efforts made by your group to reach out to people through use of popular culture was innovative. Also, the monitoring of vulture colonies and ideas like vulture restaurants are very positive work.

Regards,

Vikram Jit Singh
The Times of india
Chandigarh.

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