The Flight Feather Molt of Griffon Vultures (Gyps fulvus) and Associated Biological Consequences

Zuberogoitia, Íñigo; Puente, Javier de la; Elorriaga, Javier; Alonso, Raúl; Palomares, Luis E.; Martínez, José Antonio

doi:10.3356/jrr-12-09.1

Cited by 38 publications

(36 citation statements)

References 11 publications

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“…In long-distance migrants, flight feather moult rarely overlaps with breeding or migration, but some species start moulting during the last part of the breeding season and stop before migration, resuming the moult in winter grounds (Herremans 2000;Chandler et al 2010), whereas others only moult once in the wintering areas (Barshep et al 2013). In contrast, sedentary large species can extend the time devoted to moult, but suspend moult in winter to save energy, in order to survive during adverse weather periods and to obtain enough reserves to start reproduction early (Zuberogoitia et al 2013a). Hence, the more time spent rearing young, the less time for moult, and, reciprocally, a longer moult that clears worn feathers from the wing may make breeding in the next season impossible (Rohwer et al 2011).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…All birds were photographed, and these pictures and those of the other nonhandled birds were inspected by a second trained researcher (IZ, see Zuberogoitia et al 2013a). We recorded a moult card for both wings of each individual, identifying feather generation by wear, shape, colour, age pattern, and growth of the remiges (i.e.…”

Section: Number Of Feathersmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…These individual moult scores were then summed to give an overall moult score between 0 and 50 (for 10 PP) and 0 and 80 (for 16 SS). Following Zuberogoitia et al (2013a), feathers scored as 0 were also recorded as A (juvenile), K (moulted in the previous moult season), M (moulted 2 years ago), and O (moulted 3 years ago).…”

Section: Moult Scorementioning

confidence: 99%

“…On the other hand, experienced breeders take advantage of their better knowledge of the territory, allowing them to obtain resources more efficiently than young birds (Espie et al 2000;Daunt et al 2007;Zuberogoitia et al 2013b;Penteriani et al 2013). Hence, adults optimize time and resources and, as a result, they can moult more flight feathers in a given moult period and quicker than inexperienced birds (Dietz et al 2013;Zuberogoitia et al 2013a). …”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The Bearded Vulture, as other vultures, is a classic example of a bird that has a serial/stepwise moult (Staffelmauser;Houston 1975;Clark 2004;Zuberogoitia et al 2013a). The moult pattern of the Bearded Vulture (Gypaetus barbatus) has received little attention despite its endangered status (see Margalida 2011).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The flight feather moult pattern of the bearded vulture (Gypaetus barbatus)

Zuberogoitia¹,

Gil²,

Martínez

et al. 2015

J Ornithol

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Moult is an extremely time-consuming and energy-demanding task for large birds. In addition, there is a trade-off between the time devoted to moulting and that invested in other activities such as breeding and/or territory exploration. Moreover, it takes a long time to grow a long feather in large birds, and large birds that need to fly while moulting cannot tolerate large gaps in the wing, but only one or two simultaneously growing feathers. As a consequence, large birds take several years to complete a full moult cycle, and they resume the moult process during suboptimal conditions. A clear example of this pattern is the Bearded Vulture (Gypaetus barbatus), which needs 2-3 years for changing all flight feathers. Here we describe the sequence, extent, and timing of moult of 124 Bearded Vultures in detail for the first time. We found that extent and timing of flight feather moult was different between age classes. Subadults (from 3rd to 5th calendar year)

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Number Of Feathersmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Moult Scorementioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 3 more Smart Citations

The flight feather moult pattern of the bearded vulture (Gypaetus barbatus)

Zuberogoitia¹,

Gil²,

Martínez

et al. 2015

J Ornithol

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Large‐scale movement patterns in a social vulture are influenced by seasonality, sex, and breeding region

Morant

Arrondo

Sánchez‐Zapata

et al. 2023

Ecology and Evolution

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Quantifying space use and segregation, as well as the extrinsic and intrinsic factors affecting them, is crucial to increase our knowledge of species‐specific movement ecology and to design effective management and conservation measures. This is particularly relevant in the case of species that are highly mobile and dependent on sparse and unpredictable trophic resources, such as vultures. Here, we used the GPS‐tagged data of 127 adult Griffon Vultures Gyps fulvus captured at five different breeding regions in Spain to describe the movement patterns (home‐range size and fidelity, and monthly cumulative distance). We also examined how individual sex, season, and breeding region determined the cumulative distance traveled and the size and overlap between consecutive monthly home‐ranges. Overall, Griffon Vultures exhibited very large annual home‐range sizes of 5027 ± 2123 km 2 , mean monthly cumulative distances of 1776 ± 1497 km, and showed a monthly home‐range fidelity of 67.8 ± 25.5%. However, individuals from northern breeding regions showed smaller home‐ranges and traveled shorter monthly distances than those from southern ones. In all cases, home‐ranges were larger in spring and summer than in winter and autumn, which could be related to difference in flying conditions and food requirements associated with reproduction. Moreover, females showed larger home‐ranges and less monthly fidelity than males, indicating that the latter tended to use the similar areas throughout the year. Overall, our results indicate that both extrinsic and intrinsic factors modulate the home‐range of the Griffon Vulture and that spatial segregation depends on sex and season at the individual level, without relevant differences between breeding regions in individual site fidelity. These results have important implications for conservation, such as identifying key threat factors necessary to improve management actions and policy decisions.

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Breeding and Nesting Biology in Raptors

Tapia

Zuberogoitia

2018

Birds of Prey

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The Flight Feather Molt of Griffon Vultures (Gyps fulvus) and Associated Biological Consequences

Cited by 38 publications

References 11 publications

The flight feather moult pattern of the bearded vulture (Gypaetus barbatus)

The flight feather moult pattern of the bearded vulture (Gypaetus barbatus)

Large‐scale movement patterns in a social vulture are influenced by seasonality, sex, and breeding region

Breeding and Nesting Biology in Raptors

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