The Cinereous Vulture Aegypius monachus formerly known as the Black Vulture is classified as Near-threatened at world level and Vulnerable at European level. It has a discontinuous distribution in Europe, where it is present in the Caucasus mountains (190 pairs shared among Russia, Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan), Greece (20), Spain (1,000), Turkey (100-500) and Ukraine (6). Populations are considered to be increasing in Spain and Greece, stable in Turkey and declining in Ukraine and the Caucasus.
Because of the degradation and destruction of its breeding habitats, direct persecution and poisoning, abandoning of extensive livestock economy and rarefaction of wild ungulate populations, this species has considerably declined all over its breeding area. It may occasionally breed in Portugal, Former Yugoslavian Republic of Macedonia and Albania. It is now extinct in France. The global range extends from the Iberian peninsula across southern Europe and through the central Asian plateau to Mongolia and China. It has become very uncommon in Greece, but now increase locally as in Spain following conservation measures. In Spain it has definitely increased, however. Its global European population amounts to 900-1000 breeding pairs.

It inhabits forested areas in hills and mountains at 300-1400 m in Spain, but higher in Asia, where it also occupies scrub and arid and semi-arid alpine meadows and grasslands up to 4500m5. Also subalpine forests of Pinus spp., up to 2,000 m. Birds forage over forested areas, but also in many types of open terrain from steppe to upland grasslands. Nests are built in trees or on rocks (the latter extremely rarely in Europe but more frequently in parts of Asia), often aggregated in very loose colonies or nuclei. Its diet consists mainly of carrion from medium-sized or large mammal carcasses, although snakes and insects have been recorded as food items. Live prey is rarely taken.

The Cinereous Vulture breeds in loose colonies or solitarily. Age of first breeding is usually 5-6 years. It builds a huge nest on top of a tree where it lays one egg. Laying usually starts at the beginning of February and finishes at the end of April, with the maximum number of clutches between the last week of February and the beginning of March. Incubation is by both adults and lasts 50-54 days. The chick usually spends more than 100 days in the nest and remains with the adults 2-3 months after fledging before moving away. Breeding success is very high (up to 90%) in areas with low human disturbance. The chick is fed with meat regurgitated by the adults. The maximum daily energy requirements of a breeding pair, between the end of June and the beginning of July, are 2,200 g; the yearly needs of a successful pair would be approximately 600 kg.

Birds feed on medium to large carcasses, only rarely taking live prey. They search at lower altitudes and often over more wooded country than do Griffon Vultures. In southern Spain the Cinereous Vulture feeds basically on mammals, specially rabbits and sheep (90%), but insects and lizards also appear in the diet; the remarkable increase of populations of wild ungulates such as deer and wild boar has changed its diet towards these. Individual pairs nesting no more than 3 km apart can show differences in diet, suggesting different foraging areas. Tortoises Testudo are also eaten, and in the Caucasus a significant part of the diet consists of dead sheep and other livestock which die in large numbers following overgrazing.

Aegypius monachus breeds in Spain, Bulgaria, Greece, Turkey, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Ukraine, Russia, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Kyrgyztan, Iran, Afghanistan, north India, northern Pakistan9, Mongolia and mainland China, with a small reintroduced population in France. It may occasionally breed in Portugal, F.Y.R.O. Macedonia and Albania, but it no longer breeds in Slovenia, Italy, Cyprus, Moldova and Romania. There are wintering areas in Sudan, Pakistan, north-west India, Nepal, Bhutan, Myanmar, Lao People's Democratic Republic, North Korea and South Korea. Its global population is estimated to number 7,200-10,000 pairs, with 1,700-1,900 pairs in Europe and 5,500-8,000 pairs in Asia. In Europe, populations are increasing in Spain (minimum 1,500 pairs), Portugal and France, and are stable in Greece and Macedonia6. However, numbers are decreasing in Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Russia, Turkey and the Ukraine. Overall, the European population underwent a large increase between 1990 and 2000, possibly >30% overall. Much less information is available regarding the status and population trends of the species in Asia, where the bulk of the global population resides. There are probably over 1,000 pairs in the Asian part of the former Soviet Union and a further 1,760 pairs in China. It appears that breeding populations are more or less stable in Mongolia (where the species is described as common) and Pakistan (where it is described as scarce), although fluctuations in distribution and breeding success occur, and populations within some nature reserves in Mongolia (where there are few domestic livestock) are declining. In Kazakhstan, however, populations of all vulture species are in severe decline, owing to precipitous decline in their main food resource, the Saiga antelope (Saiga tartarica). This trend may be mirrored in a number of other central Asian countries where populations of both domesticated livestock and wild ungulates have declined greatly in recent years. Very little is known about population trends on wintering grounds, although wintering populations appear to be declining in Nepal and increasing in India.

In South Europe adults non-migratory, in Central Asia semi-resident, often following nomads and their domestic herds. Partly migratory in Asia: most birds leave Mongolia and other Northern breeding areas for winter; migrants winter from North east Africa and Middle East through Northern India to Korea; some birds reach Arabia and South of China.

article number 1 Title
A Black Vulture Aegypius monachus from Roman Valkenburg The Netherlands
Author(s): Verhagen M.
Abstract: The former occurrence of Aegypius monachus in The Netherlands is attested by a bill fragment from the Roman period excavation at Valkenburg (South-Holland). The plausibility of the occurrence of this ..[more]..
Source: ARDEA 79 (3): 439-442.
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