Sitting in Nairobi as I prepare for my flight back to the US, I can hardly believe it has been three months. The Mara and its vultures have once again kept me busy with too much to see and do. I already miss the rolling hills, expansive plains, and forested rivers that have surrounded me throughout the stay. I miss the cries of the African white-backed vultures, the gentle chirp of the massive Lappet-faced vultures, and the giggles of the hyenas that have come to steal the vultures’ find.
The next few months I will watch the birds from afar, following their movements using the GSM-GPS transmitters that have been attached and reliving their interactions through my notes, photos, and videos taken during the carcass observations. I hope to make some sense out of all that I have seen and out of what is now nearly a full year of movement data from the first 14 birds. At the end we should have a more complete understanding of the impacts that the human-induced landscape changes are having on these important scavenger species, not just in and around Masai Mara National Reserve but throughout the species wide ranges which take them from the open plains of Serengeti and the misty crater of Ngorogoro to arid Laikipia whistling thorn acacia fields and flowing rivers of Masai Mara.
I plan to return in July to see the vultures at their peak as the wildbeest migration floods the Mara ecosystem. It will be a different world. It should be exciting to see the skies teaming with the black vulture silhouettes and the ground writhing with fighting scavengers.

In any case, I am now home. Thanks for following my blog and hope to see all of you soon! I will be returning to the field in mid July so until then I probably won’t be posting too many new blogs. Thanks for following along with my adventures.

I have always felt that education and community involvement are essential for effective conservation. Today I got to do both as we held the second Vulture Workshop in Masai Mara National Reserve. The turnout was amazing – teachers from each of the local schools, leaders for the various conservancies that have been created to try and stave off habitat destruction around the reserve, Kenya Wildlife Service representatives, community outreach workers, researchers from Michigan State University’s Mara Hyena Project, guides from some of the larger lodges, game wardens from Mara Triangle Conservancy and Narok County Council, community liasons and chiefs from the two neighboring community areas that I have been working in, researchers from the National Museum of Kenya and photographers to record the entire event. Over 65 attendees in total!
I felt a swell of pride as we all sat and listened to lectures about the animals I had been watching so intently for the last few months: Vultures. Everyone seemed absorbed in the stories of why we need vultures, why we are losing them, and what we need to do to save them.
It was fascinating to see the history of The Vulture Research Project unfold and I felt honored to be its newest contributor. It all started with Paul Kirui, a one-of-a-kind tour guide, who took an interest in the vultures nearly fifteen years ago and started recording numbers at different carcasses. His work laid the foundation for what would come as he invited Munir Virani and Simon Thomsett from The Peregerine Fund, to join him in the Mara. Paul had been fascinated by the fluctuations in vulture numbers that occur in the Mara throughout the year and his keen initial observations are now the basis for a scientific publication and have helped lay the path for much of the work that I am conducting. Then came the invaluable contribution of Munir and Simon who’s transects have established the level of vulture declines occurring in and around Masai Mara National Reserve. Their work really confirms that there is a problem and we have to do something about it.
When it was finally my turn to present the results from the movement and behavior study, I felt my usual public speaking fear melt away as my excitement at this unique opportunity to give a more complete explanation of what I had been doing and all that I had learned to this important group of stakeholders. I began by briefly reminding everyone how important vultures are for disease control and waste removal and emphasized once more (as had been done throughout the workshop) of how devastating the poisoning of carcasses had been on vultures. Then I presented my findings. The reaction was amazing – one of excitement, curiosity, and a sort of awe – both at all I had done in this last two years and at the amazing behavior of vultures. How can you not be impressed by a bird that can travel over 250 km in a day at speeds over 100 km/hr, while using a home range of over 100,000 km2? A species that can find a carcass to quickly that they seem to just pour from the sky when the first bird lands?
Afterward, there were so many questions and many people stopped to chat with me after the talk was over. Two years into my PhD and for the first time I felt like a real scientist – like a real conservationist. I also felt the more familiar joy of being an educator and was so pleased to have shared this information with the local community.
The afternoon was spent debating the best ways forward as we broke into three groups to discuss avenues for improvement in research, education, and policy that might aid in vulture conservation. People really put their heads together and it was nice to see all the lively discussion unfold.
When it was finally over I felt drained but pleased. What better way to end three months in the field, then to share a little bit of what I had discovered (even if the results really were just the head of the hippo).

Ann, the African white-backed vulture preparing for her release

So with only a Tawny eagle to show for our efforts after three long days of trapping, we still had work to do. We had a test unit that needed to get deployed, so I could decide which units we would be using during our July trapping session. We really needed one more bird.

We had found the ultimate trapping spot – a quite cove surrounded by a small river with trees protecting it, making it difficult for mammalian scavenger to tell if a vulture was landing on a nest or on the ground. We had tried it a few times before and despite a great turn out of vultures had been unable to snag one. Today we would give it one last go before giving up and moving somewhere else.

At 8 o’clock we dropped the meat and set up the nooses. Then we waited. The first birds to arrive were more Tawny eagles. They stepped carefully around the nooses, aware they were there but unconcerned. Their feet are tiny compared to a vultures, so the nooses generally shouldn’t catch them, but in trapping there are no guarantees. My heart was racing as three African white-backed vultures came zooming onto the meat. They dropped from the sky with such speed that you could hear their wings against the wind, like tiny jet airplanes. The odds were slowly shifting in our favor. More African white-backed vultures landed and slowly the squabbling started. As birds jumped around I could see the black loops we had set out slip over and off their feet. We just needed one to stick. Then with an angry screech as one vulture attacked another, they all jumped off the meat. Everyone moved a few feet away except for one bird. He seemed confused, hadn’t he jumped just like the others. We got one!

We drove up and I nearly tripped as I came tumbling from the moving vehicle. The bird was quickly in hand and we put on the new unit, took some blood, and attached a wing tag. Kasine, who had joined us for the day, named the bird Ann after his girlfriend.

The bird was surprisingly mellow, especially for an African white-backed vulture, and only vomited slightly. Our scale showed the bird to be about 5.5 kg (nearly 11 lbs) – not bad for such a long distance mover. When all our work was through, the bird was ready for release. My heart was still in my throat from the adrenaline rush of the catch. I grasped the bird tightly around the neck and feet as I prepared for release. In my first vulture release, I had been terrified that the bird would turn around and come after me, but I knew better now. I set the bird down, releasing the feet first and then the head. With great effort (as always), the vulture ran forward and leapt into the air, wings flapping hard to lift its heavy body. Within moments the bird was airborne and off to its next adventure. Where would the bird go next? With the unit attached, we would know in a few hours.

Trapping vultures is hard. It takes almost as much patience as watching vultures. After our amazing day of two birds at once, we had three days of nothing. We caught one Tawny eagle, which was interesting, but not quite what we were going for. The Tawny managed to snag itself on one of the nooses just as ten vultures were feasting around it – what are the odds? We quickly drove up to grab it. I carefully secured both feet before removing the noose. Wilson, who up until this point had only ever handled vultures, went to secure the head. He sort of pinned the bird to the ground. I quickly explained that with this bird we really didn’t need to worry about that end.

You see when it comes to defense vultures and eagles are polar opposites. Vultures use their beaks – designed to quickly rip bone from flesh and with a long snake-like neck that is difficult to control – these are formidable weapons. The vulture’s talons on the other hand are incredibly blunt. All that walking around on the ground and they have basically filed their nails down. The talons are still impressively large, but they aren’t really sharp, so you don’t have to worry about them grabbing onto you with their feet. Alternatively the talons on an eagle are not only sharp, they are also strong. Designed to kill, crush, and carry small prey, the talons can do some serious damage in just one grab. Having been “taloned” by a red tailed hawk that we were trying to rehabilitate at the Cornell Wildlife Center, I can tell you it isn’t fun. The talons go right into your skin like tiny razor blades and can go all the way through your arm if you are particularly unlucky. In my case, the talons went in and out quickly which was fortunate as occasionally the birds can hold on.

In any case, what this all means is the handling techniques for vultures and eagles are totally different. With a vulture we carefully secure the head first and foremost and can worry about the feet later. With an eagle, you want to have a good hold of the talons before you do anything else. Then (as was to Wilson’s amazement) you can calmly hold the bird against your chest (feet secured with one hand) and occasionally can even have the beak of the bird resting against your arm with no trouble.

An eagle release is also a bit more dramatic as you can actually toss the bird up and let it take flight.