Les premiers r\u00e9sultats d\u2019une exp\u00e9dition Bulgare au Soudan et en Ethiopie r\u00e9v\u00e8lent une cause majeure (\u00e9lectrocution) de destruction des V. Percnopt\u00e8res au nord-est du Soudan.<\/p>\n
\u00ab Pi\u00e8ge mortel pour les Vautours percnopt\u00e8res en Afrique \u00bb<\/strong><\/p>\n Une exp\u00e9dition commune entre BSPB et la Soci\u00e9t\u00e9 Soudanaise de Faune et de la Flore (25 avril au 5 mai 2010) a constat\u00e9 17 Vautours percnopt\u00e8res \u00e9lectrocut\u00e9s. Le secteur d’\u00e9tude de l’exp\u00e9dition correspondait \u00e0 la c\u00f4te de la Mer Rouge au Soudan du Nord-est. P. Orabi<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n A death trap for the Egyptian Vultures in Africa [2010-10-11 10:54:50]<\/strong><\/p>\n A joint expedition between BSPB and the Sudanese Wildlife Society (25.IX-5.X.2010) has found 17 electrocuted Egyptian Vultures. The main study area of the expedition was the Red Sea coast in North-Eastern Sudan. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Les premiers r\u00e9sultats d\u2019une exp\u00e9dition Bulgare au Soudan et en Ethiopie r\u00e9v\u00e8lent une cause majeure (\u00e9lectrocution) de destruction des V. Percnopt\u00e8res au nord-est du Soudan. \u00ab Pi\u00e8ge mortel pour les Vautours percnopt\u00e8res en Afrique \u00bb Une exp\u00e9dition commune entre BSPB et la Soci\u00e9t\u00e9 Soudanaise de Faune et de la Flore (25 avril au 5 mai […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-217","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-autres-informations"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/preprod-cna.lpo.fr\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/217","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/preprod-cna.lpo.fr\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/preprod-cna.lpo.fr\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/preprod-cna.lpo.fr\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/preprod-cna.lpo.fr\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=217"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/preprod-cna.lpo.fr\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/217\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/preprod-cna.lpo.fr\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=217"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/preprod-cna.lpo.fr\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=217"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/preprod-cna.lpo.fr\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=217"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nLa d\u00e9couverte des oiseaux morts sous une ligne \u00e0 haute tension dans les environs de Port-Soudan confirme \u00e0 nouveau cette menace importante qui a conduit \u00e0 la mort de nombreux oiseaux depuis plusieurs ann\u00e9es et qui continue \u00e0 faire de nombreuses victimes. En 1982-83 un ornithologue Allemand, Gerhard Nikolaus, avait trouv\u00e9 sous la m\u00eame ligne \u00e0 haute tension environ 55 Vautours percnopt\u00e8res \u00e9lectrocut\u00e9s et lors d\u2019une autre visite dans ce m\u00eame secteur 21 ans plus tard, il avait trouv\u00e9 5 autres oiseaux morts. Jusqu’\u00e0 pr\u00e9sent ce ne sont pas moins de 80 Vautours percnopt\u00e8res \u00e9lectrocut\u00e9s dans ce secteur. Il est \u00e0 craindre que ces constats de mortalit\u00e9 soit que la partie visible de l’iceberg puisque depuis son installation en 1950 cette ligne \u00e0 haute tension a probablement caus\u00e9 la mort de centaines et peut \u00eatre m\u00eame de milliers de Vautours percnopt\u00e8res. D\u2019autres esp\u00e8ces ont \u00e9t\u00e9 victimes de cette ligne comme l\u2019Aigle des steppes (Aquila nipalensis), l\u2019Aigle de Bonelli (1 couple), le Vautour oricou (Torgos tracheliotus)\u2026 Ce secteur autour de Port-Soudan \u00e9tait connu pour \u00eatre un site historique de halte significatif de l’esp\u00e8ce au Soudan pendant sa migration d’automne. Mais lors de cette exp\u00e9dition qui a \u00e9t\u00e9 mise en \u0153uvre en pleine p\u00e9riode de migration des Vautours percnopt\u00e8res, tr\u00e8s peu d\u2019individus ont \u00e9t\u00e9 observ\u00e9s. Les Bulgares consid\u00e8rent que cette mortalit\u00e9 pendant la migration et sur les sites d\u2019hivernage constitue une des raisons principales de d\u00e9clin rapide des Vautours percnopt\u00e8res dans les Balkans. Les donn\u00e9es du contr\u00f4le en Bulgarie et en Mac\u00e9doine ces 8 derni\u00e8res ann\u00e9es, montrent que lors de la migration pr\u00e9nuptiale au printemps beaucoup d\u2019oiseaux ne reviennent pas sur leurs territoires de reproduction. Par ailleurs, il est assez bien connu que lors de la migration postnuptial, les Vautours percnopt\u00e8res ne d\u00e9daignent pas se percher sur des poteaux \u00e9lectriques. Il appara\u00eet que la ligne \u00e0 haute tension, qui semble avoir caus\u00e9 la mort de nombreux Vautours percnopt\u00e8res, est situ\u00e9e \u00e0 proximit\u00e9 d\u2019\u00e9levages qui sans aucun doute sont particuli\u00e8rement attrayant pour ce petit n\u00e9crophage opportuniste…<\/p>\nPour en savoir plus :<\/h4>\n
\nThe finding of the dead birds under a particular power line in the surroundings of Port Sudan confirms a threat there which is known to cause the death of many birds since many years and continues to take victims. Still in 1982-83 the German ornithologist Gerhard Nikolaus found under the same power line almost 55 electrocuted Egyptian Vultures and during next visit in the area 21 years later, he found another 5 dead birds. Until now there are found almost 80 electrocuted Egyptian Vultures but this is only the tip of the iceberg since the power line is built in the 1950es and probably has caused the death of hundreds and may be more than a thousand Egyptian Vultures.
\nIn the past the area around Port Sudan was the most significant known stop-over site of the species in Sudan during its autumn migration. But in spite that the expedition was implemented in the period of most intensive migration of the Egyptian Vultures, they were found in very low numbers.
\nNot only the Egyptian Vultures were found to be victims of this particular dangerous power line, but also Lappet-faced Vultures, Steppe Eagles and also during the expedition we found electrocuted Bonelli\u2019s Eagle and nearby territorial pair which was previously not known to occur in Sudan.
\nThe probable high mortality during the migration and in the wintering sites is considered to be one of the main reasons in the complex of threats leading to the fast decline of the Egyptian Vultures in the Balkans. Data from the monitoring in Bulgaria and Macedonia for the last 8 years, shows that in the spring significant part of the birds do not return to their breeding territories. It is well known that often during migration and wintering the Egyptian Vultures prefer to roost on electric poles. The power line causing the death of so many vultures from the endangered species is situated in close distance to big farms which attract many birds and cover area of a several square kilometers. On the other hand until the last year this was the only power line going out of the town and offering an attractive roosting site for the birds.
\nThis power line supplies with electricity and ensures the work of pumps in the water supply zone which give water to the almost 500 000 inhabitants in the town. We assume that the decades of such impact on the species caused by this single extremely dangerous power line may have caused the extinction of Egyptian Vultures populations which traditionally migrate along the western Red Sea coasts and breed in Eastern Europe, Western and Central Asia and the Middle East. Following the results from the expedition, a huge priority in the species\u2019 conservation will be the insulation of the dangerous power line nearby Port Sudan and convincing of the Sudanese Electricity Company to use a safe model of pylons.
\nIt is still not known whether the Bulgarian birds use this migratory route but we hope that the future research using satellite telemetry will reveal more and will assure a better planning of the conservation measures which necessarily need to cross the national borders.
\nWe thank to the Sudanese Wildlife Administration for assuring the safe implementation of the expedition. For the financial support we thank to African Bird Club, Mohamed bin Zayed Species Conservation Fund, Stichting Vulture Conservation Foundation and the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, UK.<\/p>\n