Breeding success for Critically Endangered Species!

Over the years, we have successfully bred a number of species here at Suffolk Owl Sanctuary, covering a range of Raptor groups - Owls, Hawks, Falcons, Buzzards and Kites. As part of our growing concern about the decline in Vulture populations over the past few decades, we added Hooded Vultures to our captive collection in……

Jack and Rose have been firm favourites of our afternoon Flying Displays. Rose is ……. Jack’s senior, and over the past couple of winters we’ve seen the pair building a nest and even copulating. However, we feared that Jack might have been still too young. Last year, Rose laid an egg, but it was infertile.

Last winter, as soon as we suspected that the pair were getting into the mood, we moved them over to a quieter aviary at SOS2 and installed a screen to give them some privacy. Camera’s were installed so that we could monitor them without disturbance and we largely left them to it.

In February an egg was laid, and following advice from other collections, we removed this to put in an incubator. This encourages the parents to lay a second egg. Unfortunately, the first egg was infertile, but this is normal for many species of birds. We opted to leave the second egg with Jack and Rose. During this time, we minimised disturbance to encourage them to remain on the egg, especially during the colder weather (in their native Africa, February and March are significantly warmer than here in Suffolk!)

One day in mid April, Mat went to check the cameras and discovered a chick in the nest! We had missed hatching day but guessed that the chick was only a day or two old! Everyone was sworn to secrecy as the first few weeks of life are critical and we didn’t want to jinx this fabulous achievement!

The team continued to monitor the chick remotely, providing extra food for the parents as they now had an extra mouth to feed. When the chick was about a week old, Jess climbed up the ladder to get a closer look and do a quick assessment on the chick. During this time, Jack and Rose had to be held back by the falconers, as their instinct is to protect their baby, and whilst they have always had a good relationship with the falconers, they were clearly seen as a threat at this time of year.

When the chick was almost 4 weeks old, we invited Dr Elliott Simpson-Brown, our consultant vet, to come and give them a proper vet check and to ring them. The chick passed with a clean bill of health, although left manager Maz slightly less clean, as they demonstrated their effective defence of vomiting all over a potential threat. Unfortunately for us though, Jack and Rose have been doing a great job of feeding the chick, and the ring wouldn’t fit over their already huge feet! This isn’t a major issue, as the chick will be microchipped when they’re a little bigger, and we can use a split ring as a visual identifier.

For now, the chick remains with their parents at SOS2, our smaller nature centre across the road from our main site, but over the next few months we will slowly start to remove the screening to allow visitors a chance to see our very special baby. We are hoping that this individual will stay with us and join the Flying Team later in the year, but this will be very dependent on what Jack and Rose allow, as Hooded Vulture chicks are usually looked after by their parents until they reproduce the following year, and in the wild Hooded Vultures often congregate in family groups.

OUR HOODED VULTURE NEEDS A NAME! We are inviting visitors and our followers on social media to send in their name suggestions. The team will then select a shortlist which will go to a public vote on our Facebook page.