Owing to a rigorous approach to territory monitoring, fresh black vulture nests and new pairs have been found in the protected regions of Parque Natural do Douro Internacional (PNDI) and in the Parque Natural Arribes del Duero in Spain, throughout the last year. The black vulture is a species that occurs in the Iberian Peninsula and is considered by the Portuguese Red Book of Vertebrates as "Critically Endangered”.
José Jambas, an environmental conservation technician who works for the Junta de Castilla y León, in Spain, has told Lusa that “During field monitoring, eight new black vulture 'Aegypius monachus' nests were discovered in the two protected areas, on both banks of the Douro Internacional, resulting in four new pairs so far. These data represent an important milestone for the conservation of the black vulture in these two protected areas, and a good perspective for continued fauna monitoring work carried out in both natural parks”, he explained.
The environmentalist further mentioned that three couples are in the incubation stage on the Spanish side and that the same is true on the Portuguese side, which also counts three more couples who are getting ready to build their nest. “At this moment, work to prospect new colonies is still ongoing and it may still be possible to detect more nesting pairs until the end of the breeding season”, José Jambas stated.