Last Tuesday, May 16, the first bearded vulture of the 2023 season arrived at the hacking facilities in the Picos de Europa National Park.

This time it is a male that was born last February in the Human Isolation Breeding Center (CRIAH), owned by the Government of Aragon and managed by the Foundation for the Conservation of the Bearded Vulture in Pastriz (Zaragoza). They come from a high-risk nest located in the Aragonese Pyrenees, and are part of an integral bearded vulture recovery program under the LIFE Pro Bearded Vulture project (LIFE20/NAT/ES/0001363). This LIFE project, which will run until 2026, is co-financed by the European Commission, the regional governments of Aragón, Asturias, Castilla y León, Cantabria, the Ministry for Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge through the OAPN and Endesa.

After completing its acclimatization period in the hacking (approximately 30 days), this specimen will become part of the wild stock of the Cantabrian Mountains, where a total of 43 specimens have already been released and there are already three specimens born in the wild.

The recovery of the bearded vulture in the Cantabrian Mountains is a medium-term project in which several years of continuous work are necessary to finally obtain a stable and self-sustainable population in a strategic node for connectivity between the different existing populations.

Fundación para la Conservación del Quebrantahuesos

Contact: Gerardo Báguena Sánchez, Life ProBV Project Manager

686 927 930