The reintroduced bearded vultures Wally, which the SZ readers gave their name to, and Bavaria could get reinforcements from the Nuremberg zoo in the summer. The Bearded Vulture couple there have mated and started building their nests, said the State Association for Bird Protection in Bavaria (LBV) and the Tiergarten on Thursday. “With a bit of luck, the female will lay one or two eggs in January, which will also be fertilized – and the pair will begin incubation, which lasts about two months,” says deputy zoo director Jörg Beckmann.
Two more animals are to be released in June. LBV project manager Toni Wegscheider said that of course there was hope that a Franconian bearded vulture would also be there in Berchtesgaden in the second year of release. In addition to the possible Nuremberg offspring, animals from other zoos in Europe are also possible. Wally and Bavaria, for example, come from Spanish offspring – they were released in June 2021.
The Nuremberg bearded vulture female is 22, the male 42 years old. According to Tiergarten, the couple has had offspring five times. Three young animals have already been released into the wild in other countries.
Wally is currently in the vicinity of the Berchtesgaden National Park and is looking – you can see that from the recorded flight movements – from avalanche channels for food, said Wegscheider. Bavaria has not had a working transmitter for weeks. However, the large amount of fresh snow in the Alps offers her good conditions. Animals that die in avalanches serve as food for bearded vultures.