A Griffon in Ria Formosa?

The Griffon Vulture, Gyps fulvus is an Old World vulture in the family Accipitridae. They feed on carrion and are enormous in size, reaching 95-110 cm long with a 230-265 cm wingspan. It usually lives and breed in rocky cliffs, amongst the comfort of their own kind. In Portugal, they can be found with relative ease in Parque Natural do Tejo Internacional and Parque Natural do Douro Internacional. In the Algarve, they can sometimes be spotted on Sagres rocky cliffs.

So how come we found a Griffon in Ria Formosa's marshlands?

According to my colleague Hugo Rodrigues, during one of our boat tours last December, he spotted something that "looked like a coat on top of a broomstick". He decided to investigate and, as you can see by the pictures above, this wonderful gigantic animal was catching his breath on the marshes, like so many other bird species tend to do. Next day it was gone, so we hope it found its way home...

Here at Animaris, we have two theories about this Griffon: Either it could be on his way to Africa and stopped for a while to rest, or, more likely, this was one of the 12 griffons released last November 23rd in Parque Natural do Guadiana. We couldn't see any rings on its leg, but this sight occurred about one week later to the griffon release, so this is the most viable theory.

Many Thanks to Mr. Trevor Hall and his lovely daughter Caitlin for the pictures.

Carlos

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