VulPro Flyer December 2019

Vor einigen Tagen ist die aktuelle Ausgabe des halbjährlichen Newsletters von VulPro erschienen.

Diesmal habe ich einen vierseitigen Beitrag über die verschiedenen Tätigkeiten als freiwillige Helferin geschrieben, damit es neuen Bewerbern leichter fällt sich für die richtige Jahreszeit zu entscheiden. Natürlich ist der Artikel auf Englisch, aber ich möchte ihn trotzdem auch hier teilen:

Volunteering at VulPro at different times of the year

by Bettina Boemans

Hi there! My name is Bettina Boemans from Germany and I have been volunteering at VulPro on a regular basis for the past 8 years. In 2013, I had the privilege of staying at the VulPro for a six month period, and have just made my 13th trip to the center! To put this into context, that is a total of 56 weeks spent volunteering at VulPro, with never a dull day!

Maybe you are also considering volunteering at VulPro, but you are not sure which season might be the best for you? I have been at VulPro throughout all the months of the year, so I’d like to describe the different seasons, the climate and the kind of work you can expect during your stay. As experience has shown, there are special seasons with special tasks, but things can change in the blink of an eye. Vulture emergencies always have first priority over other tasks, so schedules might not always go according to plan.
Let me take you on a journey to VulPro and enjoy the seasons together!
We start in January, South African summer. When you arrive in Johannesburg and take a one-hour drive to VulPro, make sure to bring some water. It’s the hottest time of the year and there can be easily temperatures above 40 degrees Celsius. You will get the chance to see fantastic thunderstorms in the evenings and beautiful rainbows crossing the Magaliesberg Mountains.
The grass and bushes are green thanks to the rain. Summer means rehabilitation season at VulPro! Many vultures are struggling with the heat and will end up being exhausted and dehydrated. We often get calls and immediately head out to rescue any injured and grounded birds, ensuring that they are stabilized and treated as fast as possible.
From January through to March, before the breeding season, VulPro undertakes health checks on all vultures at the centre, to assess condition, status, and ensure that all the birds are in good health. This means lots of contact with the birds. We are catching each of them, taking blood samples for lead tests, feather samples for sexing, checking their weight, conditions etc. To make it less stressful for the birds we need to be quick and helping hands are always welcome.
Throughout the year, but mostly in the first quarter, VulPro is spending long days in the field doing power line surveys. This means we are walking along the power lines close to breeding colonies or in areas with increasing numbers of reported power line collisions for many kilometers, noting the GPS coordinates of the power line pylons and the type of structures so we can send a report to the electricity supply company and force them to react and mitigate the unsafe structures.

Many of those structures are not safe for huge birds like vultures with a wingspan of almost 3 metres. They can easily touch two lines at the same time while roosting or touch earthing lines, causing fatal electrocutions. Vultures can even electrocute by sitting on a pylon and defecating, known as streamers. Vultures can't see thin power lines while flying and often collide. Mostly the vultures end up falling from the sky with broken wings and are easy prey to predators. Alternatively, they will slowly die from starvation when they are not able to fly and look for food anymore. Unsafe power lines and power line pylons are one of the main reasons for vulture injuries or fatalities.
March is the beginning of the breeding season. The vultures in the breeding enclosure are busy copulating and building their nests. You can hear them all over the place enjoying each other. We supply many bags of nesting material every day and you will not believe how fast the birds grab as many branches as possible and take it to their nests. Some nests are smaller; some nests will be massive within a few days. Monitoring breeding behavior, and identifying breeding pairs is a critically important during this period.

In April, the temperatures drop a little and we are heading to the dry season. When I lived at VulPro for 6 months during the South African winter, I did not see any rain for 5 months. However, the South African winter is much better than German summer! You will experience the special moment, whilst checking the breeding birds in the morning and the first vulture starts incubating the first egg of the season. Most eggs will be replaced by a dummy egg and taken to an incubator. It is important to always have the perfect temperature and humidity there and turn the eggs 3 times a day. The eggs will be candled in the evening to see if the vulture embryo is growing. Literally allowing you to witness the development and growth of new life. Hope for the species.
During May, the captive-bred chicks from the previous breeding season will be released from the purpose built release enclosure on the Magaliesberg mountains, after an acclimatization period. The moment you open a crate to release a captive-bred or a rehabilitated vulture, is one of the best moments you will experience at VulPro. Every time it gives me goose bumps when I get the chance to give a healthy vulture back to nature, and see how it enjoys its freedom. That’s what we are all fighting for!!!

One very special, magical vulture moment you might witness during the month of June, is when the first chick hatches. I will never forget the moment when I was turning an egg in the incubator and suddenly the egg started talking to me! I had no idea that you could hear a vulture chick inside the egg and this incredibly cute sound immediately brought tears to my eyes. When the chick internally pips it won’t take long and you can see the most precious gift on earth: A baby vulture!!! Sometimes the chick needs hatching assistance. Piece by piece the dry eggshell will be removed over an extended period, always making sure no intact veins will be cut. Once the chicks are strong enough, they are returned to the breeding enclosure to be parent reared.

More and more chicks are hatching and second clutches might be laid. The following weeks and months are incredible, as you can see how fast vulture chicks are growing. From the almost naked, helpless chick, to a cute and always hungry bundle of fluff, to a massive chick that looks like a stuffed Thanksgiving Turkey, to a proud young vulture with fast growing feathers…
It is tempting to spend all day next to the enclosure watching this miracle of creation.

From May to October, VulPro undertaken their population monitoring of Cape and African White-backed Vultures; an experience that will never be forgotten. At the beginning of the breeding season, counts are undertaken to determine the number of active nests at each site. Follow up surveys are undertaken around July in order to determine the number of chicks at each survey site. While in many colonies the numbers of vultures are still decreasing, it remains a testament to the hard work VulPro undertakes to keep the last remaining individuals alive.
Every first Saturday of September is International Vulture Awareness Day and the world is celebrating the birds. What do you think about celebrating this special day at VulPro, the leading Vulture Conservation Programme in Africa? Sometimes we’ll organize a gala dinner to raise funds and awareness, sometimes school kids will visit VulPro for a tour or we’ll have vulture information stands in public areas. To me, every day at VulPro is a perfect Vulture Awareness Day!

In October the first captive bred chicks will fledge and explore the enclosures. They need to learn to fight at the carcass or they will stay hungry. That’s a young vultures’ challenge. They also train their muscles and you can see the excitement when they take their first careful flight from one corner of the enclosure to the opposite one. The temperatures are getting hot and the first raindrops finally fall. South Africa’s nature and colours are coming back to life after several dry and dusty months. November is the beginning of the rehab season mentioned above and we are removing the nests from the breeding enclosure. The vulture pairs need to recover from the exhausting breeding season and prepare for the next one, the never-ending circle of life.

In addition, we are working hard feeding the vultures, cleaning the enclosures, crushing bones, fixing perches, guiding tours, giving talks, doing awareness campaigns, go out to rescue injured vultures, do re-sightings in the vultures’ restaurant, giving each other a helping hand, sharing our ups and downs, get stronger, and grow together. At the end of a tough and challenging year, with many heart-breaking losses, overwhelming magical moments and the wild vultures circling peacefully in the sky we are all celebrating Christmas together as a huge, happy family with the same passion for vultures and the shared desire to change the world for the better.