With the advent of very warm weather and the lack of rainfall in the summer months, there has been an increasing incidence of the iconic Cretan vulture (Gyps fulvus) being found stranded through exhaustion and dehydration on roadways and other inhabited areas of the island.

While these events tend to produce a negative impression of the state of the vulture population, in fact they are evidence of a remarkable ecological success story, as Dr Stavros Xirouchakis of the Natural History Museum of Crete told Haniotika Nea‘s Paraskevas Perakis in a recent interview.

We see them in traffic jams on the VOAK, on car bonnets, walking around city squares, even on an aeroplane wing at Heraklion airport! The Cretan vulture has this summer become a topic of conversation through videos uploaded to social media. But what is happening to these impressive birds and why are we meeting them so often in such circumstances? These “forced landings” are neither chance nor isolated cases. They reflect a deeper ecological impetus and the need for a new reading of our relations with these wild birds.

As Dr Stavros Xirouchakis, an ornithologist specialising in birds of prey at the Natural History Museum of Crete, explained to Haniotika Nea, behind each of such videos there is a story of survival. Crete is experiencing a significant increase in the vulture population, a fact which is an undoubted ecological success. However, this increase carries with it a heavy cost.

Every year some 400 to 450 young birds are born and take flight, but their mortality during the first year of life is nearly 50%. This high proportion is not due to some illness, but to the very nature of the species’ development. As Dr Xirouchakis explained, the young birds need four to five years to mature and to learn how to survive in nature.

There are three critical factors in the survival of a young vulture:
— Lack of flying experience: the young birds, having been born in the spring, are easily carried away by the summer meltemia and often end up drowning in the sea or landing in dangerous places.
— Competition for food: at animal carcases, the more experienced adult birds displace the young ones, leaving them undernourished.
— Natural exhaustion: inexperience leads to hunger and dehydration, rendering the birds unable to take off again once they have landed on the ground.

We are “invading” their territory
A common misconception is that the vultures are “invading” our towns. In reality, according to Dr Xirouchakis, the reverse is the case: the urban fabric is extending inland, occupying the birds’ natural space.

Changes in land use are transforming the landscape, so that where once there were olive groves there may now be an airport. Where once there were agricultural roads there is now the VOAK. The birds do not change their habits, it is simply that the space where they traditionally landed has now been built over. Their presence in those places is due to a pathological state which arises from exhaustion and disorientation.

What to do when we encounter a vulture
Describing how to deal with an exhausted vulture, Dr Xirouchakis explained to Haniotika Nea that the situation requires cool-headedness and knowledge. The birds which end up on the roadway are usually in a state of shock, dehydrated and disorientated. In such cases the priority is food and also hydration. As Dr Xirouchakis said, these birds need “serum and electrolytes” just like a patient who is admitted to hospital.

The instructions to the public can therefore be summarised as follows:
— Don’t approach them. Despite the young birds’ innocent appearance, getting near to them can be dangerous. Their beak cuts like a pair of scissors (they can consume a sheep in 15 minutes), and there is a risk of serious eye injury from the beak or from the wings of a frightened bird.
— Avoid making a spectacle of them (e.g. photographing them on a car bonnet as happened in a recent case); it is illegal and morally unacceptable. Wild creatures are not a circus, and “humiliation” of the species for a few likes on social media works against their protection.
— Inform the authorities. Immediately call the Forestry Service or the Federal Gamekeepers.* Their staff have the experience and the equipment for their safe handling.

After the rescue
Once a vulture has been collected it is taken to a rehabilitation centre where it remains for 8 to 10 months. There it is not just kept safe, but subjected to a hard “training” process of maturation. Through communication with other individuals of their species, the birds learn to “fight” and compete for their food – a skill which is necessary for survival in the wild.

Through such schemes, Crete acts as a “blood donor” for biodiversity in the Eastern Mediterranean. A model example is the cooperation with Cyprus, where 25 Cretan vultures which were transferred there some years ago not only survived but reproduced on the island.

Population growth
The persistence of the population in Crete is largely due to chance. The island does not have any large carnivores such as wolves or bears, a fact which resulted from systematic government extermination programmes with strychnine in the 1960s. However, there is a still a threat from secondary poisoning.

In Crete, as Dr Xirouchakis observes, unfortunately the target is usually stray dogs, but the vultures die from eating the poisoned animals. For example a single poisoned carcase (e.g. of a cow) can lead to the death of 30-40 vultures at a time. Given that a female vulture produces only one egg per year and the young bird needs 5 years to reach reproductive age, a single moment of human stupidity with a poisoned “bait” can wipe out two decades of efforts at rehabilitation.
(Haniotika Nea, 18/08/26)

Recent sightings of vultures
This month there has been a spate of incidents of exhausted vultures turning up in unexpected places.

On 13th August a video emerged on social media of a young vulture being paraded around the square in front of the Metropolitan Church of Megali Panagia in Neapolis, Lasithi, on the bonnet of a car. Media reports did not make clear how it got there or what its subsequent fate was.

On 16th August another young vulture was found wandering on the VOAK near Agios Nikolaos. A passing driver stopped his car and, having managed to coax the bird to the side of the road, fed it cat food which he happened to have in the car and alerted the local Forestry Service, who came to pick it up.

Most dramatically, on the same day, a vulture prevented a Ryanair flight from taking off at Heraklion airport, having landed on the tailplane of the aircraft and resisted all attempts to move it. Eventually the Fire Service was called and removed the bird with the help of a ladder. It was then restrained by wrapping it in a Fire Service uniform until the authorities were able to take it away. The bird was reported to have remained calm and docile throughout the experience.

* The website of the Hellenic Falconry Association has a list of local Federal Gamekeepers with phone numbers to call for advice, here: https://associationhellenicfalconry.gr/wardens/.