Taxon:
Gyps fulvus

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Scientific Name
Gyps fulvus
Common Name
Griffon Vulture
Taxa Group
Accipitridae
Environment
Move Mode

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    Data from: Vultures respond to challenges of near-ground thermal soaring by varying bank angle
    (2018-11-27) Williams, Hannah J.; Shepard, Emily L.C.; Duriez, Olivier
    Many large birds rely on thermal soaring flight to travel cross-country. As such, they are under selective pressure to minimise the time spent gaining altitude in thermal updrafts. Birds should be able to maximise their climb rates by maintaining a position close to the thermal core through careful selection of bank angle and airspeed, however, there have been few direct measurements of either parameter. Here we apply a novel methodology to quantify the bank angles selected by soaring birds using on-board magnetometers. We couple these data with airspeed measurements to parameterise the soaring envelope of two species of Gyps vulture, from which it is possible to predict “optimal” bank angles. Our results show that these large birds respond to the challenges of gaining altitude in the initial phase of the climb, where thermal updrafts are weak and narrow, by adopting relatively high, and conserved, bank angles (25-35°). The angle of bank decreased with increasing altitude, in a manner that was broadly consistent with a strategy of maximising the rate of climb. However, the lift coefficients estimated in our study were lower than those predicted by theoretical models and wind-tunnel studies. Overall, our results highlight how the relevant currency for soaring performance changes within individual climbs; when thermal radius is limiting, birds vary bank angle and maintain a constant airspeed, but speed increases later in the climb in order to respond to decreasing air density.
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    Data package
    Data from: The characteristic time scale of perceived information for decision-making: departure from thermal columns in soaring birds
    (2018-05-25) Harel, Roi; Nathan, Ran
    (1) Animals are often required to make decisions about their use of current resources while minimising travel costs and risks due to uncertainty about the forthcoming resources. Passive soaring birds utilise warm rising‐air columns (thermals) to climb up and obtain potential energy for flying across large areas. However, the utilisation of such inconsistent natural resources may be challenging for soaring‐gliding birds and involve a set of decisions to maintain efficient flight. (2) To assess which temporal scales of previous experience with environmental inputs best predicted thermal‐climbing departure decisions of soaring birds, we used movement data from Eurasian griffon vultures (Gyps fulvus) tracked by GPS transmitters. We applied Cox proportional hazard regression and a model selection approach to identify thermal‐climbing departure decisions and to compare a range of temporal scales. (3) Our findings support the use of current and recent (short‐term; last 20 minutes) experiences, compared to longer term, past experiences, in predicting the time until departure from thermals. The models supported decision rules that integrated information originating from different temporal scales, implying a tendency to depart from a thermal later when the current climb rate was stronger than experienced recently and vice‐versa. Additionally, climb rates in thermals revealed significant autocorrelation over short time scales (shorter than 30 minutes). (4) The correspondence between thermals’ characteristics and the factors that best predicted thermal‐climbing departure decisions presumably reflect optimal decisions individuals make to handle their dynamic environment and to reduce movement‐related costs of such a basic activity for soaring‐gliding birds.