During the 2022 breeding season, two new supplementary feeding stations were activated, one in Calabria and one in Puglia, in correspondence with as many historic nesting sites for the Egyptian vulture.
The first feeding point activated in 2022 thanks to the LIFE Egyptian vulture project is located in the ZSC/ ZPS Area delle Gravine (in the province of Taranto). Made by the Puglia Region, the feeding station is supplied and monitored by the LIPU and Diego, the globetrotting Egyptian vulture freed in Basilicata in 2019, has already stopped there several times since early July. Some Egyptian vultures, of wild origin, have also been seen near the area.
The second feeding point was set up in Calabria, in the Crotone area, by Altura Association for the Protection of Birds of Prey and their Habitats concurrently with the settlement of a pair of Egyptian vultures in a wall located a short distance away. Thanks to a collaboration agreement between ISPRA and Altura, this facility is now managed under the LIFE project. The staff of the Calabrian Ornithological Station (StOrCal) provides for the delivery of 30 kg of slaughtering waste twice a week and carries out the monitoring activity.
The first food supply took place on April 17 and the breeding pair in the area began to take advantage of it already in early May. The monitoring, also carried out by a camera trap, made it possible to verify that the couple then regularly frequented the feeding station and that the structure is also visited by numerous other birds of prey and imperial crows.
