Juvenile Cinereous Vultures are wimps, or to make use of a German phrase, “Warmduscher”. Whereas the breeding adults keep close to their nest all 12 months, the juveniles migrate south and spend the winter in hotter locations.
One such sissy confirmed up on Chongming Island in early December. With such low resistance to colder temperatures of their summer season habitat, it isn’t stunning the species is listed as Susceptible.
For some motive, the native magpies and rooks appeared reasonably curious concerning the newcomer, gathering shut and seemingly excitedly discussing its qualities.
Whereas a lot of the Chinese language chook photographers gathered behaved responsibly, a number of tried to get nearer and nearer to the chook on foot. It turned out the chook had eyes … and flew off. The one good bit about this was that the chook flew in my route (it was not frightened about me within the automobile) … so I obtained some flight pictures. Nonetheless, I might have most well-liked to have the vulture keep longer.
A curious characteristic I seen concerning the chook is the colour of its eyelids – blueish? The place does it get its cosmetics?
Monks in wealthy monasteries eat plenty of useless meat. In all probability that is why the scientific title of the Cinereous Vulture is Aegypius monachus.
How do you politely say that your scientific examine was not well-thought-through and didn’t give related outcomes? If this supply could be a information, phrase could possibly be “A significant fraction of the variability of breeding success was not defined by the elements thought-about”. And sure, this can be a examine about Cinereous Vultures.
The identical paper additionally has the puzzling sentence “Social battle between conservationists and forest managers who make use of native individuals in nonproductive forestry duties may simply be resolved by conducting silviculture-related practices in areas which are unimportant for conservation”. What are nonproductive forestry duties? Counting acorns on the bottom? And why would anyone wish to pay for such nonproductive duties?
Anyway, again to the Cinereous Vulture. The way to appeal to them with meals? Sure, different scientists have requested that query. The reply: “The variety of cinereous vultures that come to feed on the carcasses is said to the amount of biomass current and to the sorts of items of the supplied meals”.
What does this imply outdoors of the language of scientific papers? The primary half is straightforward – extra meals means extra vultures. Just like an even bigger McDonald’s restaurant presumably getting extra prospects, although this logic could also be flawed.
The second half is defined within the paper in additional element: “Cinereous Vultures want particular person, medium-sized muscular items and small peripheral scraps of meat and tendon.” Sounds a bit icky, however sure – the variety of vultures attracted is dependent upon the kind of meals supplied.
One kind of meals is a bit particular, at the very least to people – as described in a paper from 1991: “In Xizang and Qinghai the Cinereous Vulture is likely one of the species that feed on the corpses of people put out on the celestial burial platforms after they die”. Whereas I would like to be eaten by cats after my loss of life, this might in all probability be my second alternative.
If human carcasses usually are not obtainable, Cinereous Vultures may additionally resort to cannibalism (supply), although I’ve been instructed by members of the species that people style higher, until they’re very outdated.
Though I’m a administration guide myself, I discover it considerably unhappy when papers concerning the impact of wind farms on Cinereous Vultures undertake the identical silly language my shoppers anticipate me to make use of: “Our ‘win-win’ strategy is acceptable to different potential conflicts”.
An underappreciated menace to the well-being of Cinereous Vultures is from wine drinkers. A paper discovered that cork harvesting in breeding areas of the vulture can result in the abandonment of nests. I didn’t discover any paper indicating any unfavorable impact of ingesting beer on Cinereous Vultures.
And it tastes higher, too.
