June Report – Vulture Conservation Program

1 June 2010 was the official start of Mahseer Conservancy’s 2010/2011 vulture programme.  The following report is a summary of the work undertaken during the June 2010 period.  A series of monthly reports will be made throughout the year.

1.      Monitoring of vulture colonies

Ringora Village

Elsa Legrand has been monitoring the Ringora Vulture colony over the June period.  Over this time, from the 14 June 2010, it has been noticed that every evening, after the heat of the day, many of the vultures (around 40%) found in the colony are perched in trees with their heads drooped forwards and resting on their chests.  Given the length of time it has been occurring for, it’s not likely to be a result of Diclofenac poisoning (Diclofenac kills the birds within 2 or 3 days of consumption).  Experts from the Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS), Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB), and other vulture experts have advised that it is likely to be caused by heat stress, and dehydration.  We have been advised that eventually the birds will die from the stress this places on their bodies.

Photo 1: head drooping in the IWBV

The approach that we have adopted to address this problem is to continue monitoring as we have been doing for the past month, but also to increase our vigilance.  Morning and evening monitoring continues, and also staff are on site as time permits to monitor at other times of the day.  Some of the village students have been organised into a “Vulture Group” whereby they keep a close eye on the vultures, and immediately report any strange behaviour to members of Mahseer Conservancy, who initiate the correct procedures.

This procedure is as follows:

• Notification of all members when abnormal vulture behaviour occurs (Sumantha Ghosh, Nicola Addison, Hem Bahuguna, Lalit Negi);
• Sumantha Ghosh to notify Park Veterinary Doctor, and other park officials;
• All members to report to Ringora Village;
• “Emergency Response Kit” kept at Ringora Village – gloves, towel, water, transportation box etc.;
• Any fallen birds are to be captured if possible.  This is to be done by members who are experienced in the capture of wild birds (Hem Bahuguna)
• Any sick, captured birds to be transported to the Park’s veterinary clinic for treatment, and released when deemed to be healthy.

Photo 2: The children of Ringora Village who will be assisting us with monitoring the colony.

The following tables are a summary of Elsa’s observations at the Ringora Vulture colony for June 2010:

Table 1:Overall results for June Ringora colony monitoring

Table 2: Morning results for June Ringora colony monitoring

Table 3: Evening results for June Ringora colony monitoring

Tumeria Village

An initial visit to the vulture colony at Tumeria found 15 vultures near the village.  A subsequent visit, and advice from the local villagers, indicates that the vultures in the Tumeria Village colony are not showing signs of head drooping.  None of this (the number or the lack of head drooping) is confirmed.  This is something which we will be doing during July.

As we increase our number of field assistants, we will be looking at carrying out regular monitoring of this colony.  We will also be creating a “Vulture Group” with the local children as we have done for Ringora Village.

2.      Ban of the ‘over the counter’ sale of Diclofenac

We are currently consulting with relevant experts on how best to proceed with our drive to ban over the counter sales of Diclofenac.

3.      Diclofenac Awareness Campaign

Diclofenac presence surveys

Lalit Negi has been covering areas close to Ramnagar town, conducting Diclofenac surveys, and distributing campaign posters and leaflets. In June, he covered the following villages:

• Arjun Nala
• Tera Village
• Amdanda Khatta
• Hatidagar – Nandapur
• Berajhal

A summary of the survey results is as follows:

The interviewee that has confirmed their use of Diclofenac lives in Hatidagar – Nandapur Village.  The Diclofenac was purchased from the local veterinary doctor.  This is alarming given the proximity of this village to a known vulture feeding site.  To address this, we will be increasing our awareness campaign in the area, and will be meeting with relevant officials (park officials, veterinary community etc) to discuss the way to eradicating Diclofenac in the area.  This meeting is scheduled for 12 July 2010.

Photo 3: Lalit Negi carrying out a survey at Amdanda Khatta

Screenings of Vanishing Vultures

On 24 June 2010 we showed Vanishing Vultures in Ringora Village, followed by talks by local naturalists.  The movie was well received by the audience, which was mostly made up of village children.

We will be continuing to show Vanishing Vultures in as many villages as possible.

Map 1: Locations of awareness and monitoring work for June 2010

4.      Plans for July

• Continue monitoring the Ringora IWBV colony, and increase the hours of monitoring – we have two students now so can increase the amount of monitoring we can carry out.
• Widen the area of our awareness campaign.
• Screenings of Vanishing Vulture: Tumeria Village

Dhela Village

Tera Village

• Identify schools which could be targeted for vulture awareness (in conjunction with Sara and Vincent’s school environmental awareness work?).
• Arrange Pinjore trip for Nicola, Elsa, Sara, Lalit and Sumantha.
• Organise awareness meetings with the veterinary community.

5.      Project Vulture Core Team (June 2010)

• Sumantha Ghosh:  President of Mahseer Conservancy and local naturalist with many years experience in the Corbett area.
• Nicola Addison: Project Vulture field co-ordinator and ecologist with experience working with New Zealand birds of prey.
• Hem Bahuguna: Field Support, head of the safari team at Tiger Camp, qualified Park guide, and naturalist with many years experience in the Corbett Area.
• Lalit Negi: Field Assistant, extensive local knowledge and passion for IWBV.
• Elsa Legrand: Student at LEGTA Les Barnes (France), studying the Management and Protection of Nature.  She is monitoring the Ringora vulture colony as part of her course work.