REPORTING WING-TAGGED VULTURES

~ EAST-CENTRAL ALBERTA VULTURE STUDIES ~
For Alberta vultures, we use the combination of yellow tags with three black letters (we tag only the right wing; see the photos below). The ID symbols can be easily read by binoculars or telescope when the birds are perched or flying overhead.

Reporting yellow-wing-tagged vultures
Please report yellow-wing-tagged vultures (date, exact location, and the ID #) to the contacts below.

R. Wayne Nelson [retired in 2006 from Fish & Wildlife Division, St. Paul]
4218 – 63 Street, Camrose, AB T4V 2W2;
Tel. (780) 672-4363; E-mail:  HYPERLINK wanelson@telus.net.

Rick Morse, 8 Gaylord Place, St. Albert, AB T8N 0S8;
Tel. (780) 405-7389; E-mail: ricmorse@shaw.ca.

Floyd Kunnas, Wildlife Management, Fish and Wildlife Division;
#416 – 5025 - 49 Ave., St. Paul, AB T0A 3A4; Tel. (780) 645-6405;
E-mail: floyd. HYPERLINK kunnas@gov.ab.ca.

Dave Moore, Wildlife Management, Fish and Wildlife Division;
#8, 4701 – 52 Street, Vermilion, AB T9X 1J9; Tel. (780) 853-8137;
E-mail: dave.moore@gov.ab.ca.

Reporting Alberta Vulture sightings:
We encourage naturalists and others to report all vulture sightings in central and northern Alberta, whether flying, perching, feeding, adults courting on rooftops in the spring, or fledglings in windows or on rooftops in August-September.
Please report all sightings (date, exact location, activity) to your local Fish and Wildlife office for forwarding to us, or directly to the investigators (above).

~ SASKATCHEWAN VULTURE STUDIES ~
Stuart Houston, Brent Terry, Michael Blom, and Marten Stoffel are continuing their large-scale wing-tagging project with nestling Turkey Vultures in Saskatchewan. Each young vulture, when it is nearly able to fly (late July – early August), receives a patagial wing tag that wraps above and below the wing. The
Saskatchewan tags are green with large white letters or numbers that identify each individual bird.

As with all tagged vultures, the ID symbols can be easily read by binoculars or telescope when the birds are perched or flying overhead. From 2003 to 2006, 171 nestlings and 10 older vultures in Saskatchewan received green wing tags. In 2006 the team wing-tagged 84 young at 46 nests! With time, patience, keen field observers, and good luck, some of these marked birds will divulge extremely illuminating information about this species, such as the age at first breeding, the dispersal of their new nesting sites relative to their hatching sites, nest site fidelity, pair fidelity, and average and individual life span. Almost certainly some of the Saskatchewan wing-tagged vultures will turn up in Alberta!

Reporting green-wing-tagged vultures:
Please report green-wing-tagged vultures (date, exact location, and the ID #) to:
C. Stuart Houston, 863 University Drive, Saskatoon, SK S7N 0J8;
Tel (306)-244-0742 before 9 p.m. CST; E-mail:  HYPERLINK stuart.houston@usask.ca.

~ POTENTIAL ALBERTA SIGHTINGS OF SOUTH AMERICAN WINGTAGGED VULTURES (RED, AND LIGHT-BLUE) ~
More than 100 North American Turkey Vultures have been wing-tagged while “overwintering” in our winter of 2006-2007 in NW Venezuela. A Saskatchewan vulture, wing-tagged as a nestling, was reported from that area in a previous winter. The Venezuela researchers and Hawk Mountain, Pennsylvania, researchers now are approaching the question of Turkey Vulture migration from the southern end. Some of the birds have red tags with white numbers, others have light blue tags with black numbers (see the photos below). Please report all sightings of red and light-blue wing-tagged vultures: date, specific location, tag number and color, which wing (right or left) to which it’s attached, circumstances of the sighting (including if bird was alone or in a group of vultures, flying or perched, feeding or roosting, etc). Dead birds also should be reported.

Reporting red and light-blue tagged vultures:
Please report red and light-blue wing-tagged vultures (date, exact location, and the ID #) to:

Keith Bildstein
Hawk Mountain Sanctuary Acopian Center for Conservation Learning410 Summer Valley Road, Orwigsburg, PA 17961;
Bildstein@hawkmtn.org; 1-570-943-3411 ext. 108.

All reports will be recognized, and individuals reporting tagged birds will receive summary information about the study.