The numbers of bearded vultures, known in Spanish as ‘bone breakers’ (quebrantahuesos), are on the up in eastern Andalucía following a very successful breeding in captivity programme.
This amazing bird had become extinct in Spain’s southern-most region towards the end of the last century but a project was launched in 1996 to reintroduce it.
The area chosen was the mountainous natural park of Cazorla, Segura y Las Villas, one of the largest wildernesses on the Iberian Peninsula.
The first captive-bred birds were freed in 2006 and a total of 90 bearded vultures have been introduced in total in the natural park and the neighbouring Sierra de Castril.
It was in 2015 that the first pair began breeding. And a census carried out in early 2025 by the regional environment department has produced ‘very encouraging data’.
It found nine nesting pairs in the sierras of Cazorla, Segura and Las Villas and two in nearby Sierra de Castril natural park.
They were all either incubating eggs, or the chicks had already been born.
During the census, the department staff found that for the first time this century a bearded vulture born in the region had successfully reproduced.
They said this was ‘a crucial step for the autonomy of the species’ in the south of Spain.
The chicks are now being monitored to ‘see how many survive and fly’, with the hope that this will be the ‘best nesting year so far’.
The main bearded vulture population in Spain is found in the Pyrenees.
It gets its name in Spanish from its habit of dropping bones from great heights so they smash on rocks, making them easier to consume.
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