First bearded vulture breeding in over 50 years confirmed in Albacete

A male bearded vulture chick born in Yeste, in southeastern Spain’s Sierra del Segura, represents Albacete province’s first confirmed breeding of the species in more than half a century. The chick, named Cardaor, is the offspring of Génave and Bwindi, a pair first recorded in the province in February 2023 and present there ever since.

Because the nest was difficult to reach, environmental officers initially monitored it only with drones after the egg was laid. In May, officers from a specialist work-at-height unit reached the nest for the chick’s first health examination. They fitted identification rings and a GPS transmitter, and carefully lightened selected feathers so the bird can be recognised in flight during its first three years. A blood sample confirmed it is male.

Its name honours a traditional local wool-working occupation, a reference to the wool bearded vultures use to line and protect their nests. Technical teams will continue tracking the young bird’s development.

The monitoring is paired with research by Castilla-La Mancha’s sustainable development department and the University of Granada into historic nests at Nerpio that were occupied in the 1950s and 1960s. Together, the new chick and the historical record are helping conservationists understand the species’ return to southeastern Iberia.