Hello Nestflix Watchers!

Over the past few months, our global community of citizen scientists has asked us many insightful questions. To ensure we provide accurate answers, we consulted Dr. Sonja Krüger, Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife's park ecologist and a bearded vulture specialist with over 25 years of experience with these birds.

Bearded Vulture Breeding Season Facts
• Incubation is 5456 days, with males and females taking turns. Parental care of the chick is also shared.
• Because both sexes are alike, it is difficult to tell which is the male and which is the female. Typically, the female would be slightly bigger—again, it is difficult to know with only one adult in the nest at a time. One viewer noticed that one individual had a dark mark on the top of its beak, differentiating it from the other.
• The chick hatched on the 9th of August.
• The second chick hatched a week later. A decision was taken not to intervene and rescue the chick because this would result in a disturbance of the breeding activities and could lead to the pair moving or abandoning their nest next year. This disturbance would have been in addition to camera installation (outside the breeding season) and previous harvesting (twice) of the second egg from this nest.
• For the same reason, it was decided not to ring the chick before it fledges, an activity that is logistically challenging and not without risk.
• The birds can access a wellstocked, safe supplementary feeding site on nearby private farmland.
• Fledging is anywhere between 100 and 130 days after hatching. In Southern Africa, chicks in the wild have been known to fledge between 124128 days after hatching. We can, therefore, expect fledging to take place around midDecember. From 1 December, we will stream live footage from dawn to dusk so you are not missing this exciting event.
• Once the chick has fledged, it will remain near the nest for another 4 months before dispersing completely. We can expect it to spend the night or some time during the day on the nest for the first few weeks.
• The Bearded Vulture has 15 tail feathers and 10 primary feathers.
• Bearded vultures are obligate scavengers, relying solely on carcasses and never hunting or killing live prey. They feed almost exclusively on bones but require some meat for their chicks during the early stages.

Name the Chick
As the breeding season draws to a close and our chick prepares for its first flight, we thought it only fitting to name it. We invite you to help us choose! Share your suggestions in the comments by 25 November 2024. The NestFlix team will select a winner based on originality and suitability, with the announcement on 30 November 2024. The prize? The honour of knowing that your chosen name will accompany this majestic bird as it ventures into the wild!

www.projectvulture.org.za
https://www.birdontheedge.org
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Just so you know, from time to time, there may be a pause in the livestream due to technical issues encountered by our telecommunications carrier. We will work with them to get the stream back online as soon as possible. The YouTube livestream may also not be available on Saturdays and Sundays due to YouTube restrictions on enabling an encoder livestream from a mobile device. During these periods, please visit the direct broadcast on our website at the following link: https://www.birdontheedge.org/nestcam...

For more information and to connect with us, visit the project website at https://www.birdontheedge.org.

Thank you.