Solving the mystery of the UAE's largest bird of prey

Most residents would struggle to identify the enigmatic lappet-faced vulture but Dubai conservationists aim to change that

The global population of the already endangered lappet-faced vulture is crashing. Getty Images

Show the picture above to shoppers in a mall in Abu Dhabi or Dubai and most wouldn’t have a clue that this striking bird is a UAE species, reckons Basil Roy, conservation officer at Dubai Desert Conservation Reserve.

Yet it is found almost daily at the reserve. The image below − of the paler Gulf sub-species − was captured there, taken by a remote camera near a waterhole, only 50km from Dubai’s gleaming towers.

Both photos show endangered lappet-faced vultures. The global population was previously estimated at slightly more than 9,000, with numbers – especially in its African heartland – crashing.

A lappet-faced vulture checks out the remote camera at a Dubai Desert Conservation Reserve waterhole, while a friend looks on. Photo: DDCR

At almost a metre in length, with a three-metre wingspan, it is the largest bird of prey in the Emirates. (The slightly bigger cinereous vulture may dispute this but it’s a much rarer visitor.) But despite its conspicuous size and appearance, the lappet-faced vulture has a very low profile in the country.

“Apart from active birdwatchers and Emiratis who saw vultures growing up, I think the majority of the public in the UAE have no idea that there are lappet-faced vultures in the UAE,” says Mr Roy.

Species such as the dugong, the Arabian oryx, the houbara and green turtle rightly feature prominently in the Emirates' everyday: an Abu Dhabi aquarium star, its outline traced in light on the exterior wall; fibreglass models grazing along the capital’s Al Khaleej Al Arabi St; a swirling mural on a Yas Island building; an image on a supermarket's reusable bag.

Conspicuous by its absence is the lappet-faced vulture. Although extinct across most of the Middle East and North Africa region, it is still found in several Gulf countries.

Adding to its low profile, it is also an enigmatic presence at the reserve; no one’s exactly sure where many come from each day, or where they go.

The lappet-faced vulture has not been recorded nesting in the UAE since the early 1980s, though rumours persist it still raises chicks in remote areas – perhaps in Hatta, in the Hajar mountains. Some birds visiting the reserve are known to cross from Oman, others may be wanderers from Saudi Arabia.

Conservationists at the 225-square-kilometre reserve hope to solve these mysteries and raise the profile of the species through a GPS tracking programme. And ultimately, they hope to persuade the lappet-faced vulture to breed there.

Mr Roy says GPS trackers will “hopefully confirm our suspicions that our daily visitors are breeding and coming from the Hajar mountain range, and more specifically the Hatta region – only about 15km from the reserve”.

The birds descend on the reserve once the sun is high enough for thermals to carry them from their roosts, to dine on carcasses left out at feeding stations. Favourites are oryx and Arabian and sand gazelles that died of natural causes, while they turn their ample beaks up at many livestock carcasses – including such exotic fare as ostrich.

Lappet-faced vultures congregate at a waterhole in Dubai Desert Conservation Reserve. Photo: DDCR

A lappet-faced vulture stands over the carcass of an Arabian oryx. The bird has a wingspan of almost three metres. Photo: DDCR

A lappet-faced vulture investigates a remote camera at a DDCR waterhole. Photo: DDCR

A cinereous vulture with lappet-faced vultures at a waterhole. Mystery surrounds where many of the birds come from. Photo: DDCR

Vultures gather at the reserve's waterholes to drink, bathe and bask. Photo: DDCR

DDCR conservation officer Basil Roy checks a remote camera next to a waterhole. Chris Whiteoak / The National

Remote cameras are a vital tool for the reserve's conservationists in their quest to discover more about their enigmatic visitors. Chris Whiteoak / The National

The cage constructed at the reserve in a project to capture and fit GPS tracking devices to lappet-faced vultures. Photo: DDCR

A lappet-faced vulture feeds on a carcass at the reserve. Photo: DDCR

A much smaller Egyptian vulture joins lappet-faced vultures picking at the remnants of an oryx carcass. Photo: DDCR

When installed in December 2023, the wary birds would come no closer than 60 metres from the cage. Now they approach to within five metres. Photo: DDCR

They drink, bathe and bask at waterholes, remote cameras capturing vultures plonked stomach-down on the sand, giant wings stretched out to dry. The birds head off before sundown.

At the end of 2023, conservationists set up a large cage in the centre of the reserve, with carcasses strewn around. The aim is to entice these wary birds into the cage and fit them with GPS trackers and other tags. It’s a long process, requiring a lot of patience, but is coming tantalisingly close to success.

“Right after the cage was set up, vultures were recorded roughly 60 metres from the cage. Today, vultures are recorded five to 10 metres from the cage,” says Mr Roy.

DDCR conservation officer Basil Roy says the capture of the birds is planned for winter, to reduce heat stress. Chris Whiteoak / The National

“Now, they are staying just outside the cage, flying right next to it. I wouldn’t be surprised if we see them going inside the cage by this summer, fingers crossed, in one to three months.”

Welfare of the birds is top priority, says Dr Panos Azmanis, specialist wildlife vet and member of the International Union for Conservation of Nature Vulture Specialist Group and Wildlife Health Specialist Group.

The cage is specially designed for the species and a camera will verify the trapping so the team reaches it immediately to secure the birds in boxes. A remote-control door, a roof net and other adaptations will also feature, he says.

Roy Cooper / The National

“The most important safety is the training and preparation of the team, as well as the supervision of the trapping by an experienced vet to provide first aid in case of injuries and safeguard the welfare of the birds until their release,” says Dr Azmanis, who is scientific lead on the project.

Mr Roy says the operation shouldn’t take more than one hour, with the capture planned for winter to avoid heat stress for birds and researchers alike.

Dr Azmanis says data from the project could solve the mysteries surrounding the lappet-faced vulture in the Emirates, and help in its conservation.

Dr Panos Azmanis with a lappet-faced vulture chick tagged in Oman. The young bird has since been sighted at Dubai Desert Conservation Reserve. Photo: Dr Panos Azmanis

“We hope to learn the movements with UAE, if the bird is breeding in the Emirates and their overall ecology in the country. Moreover, we can assess disease and mortality and act quickly either to rescue a bird or perform a postmortem and identify the cause of death.

“With the movements of the birds, we will find which areas they visit, identify hot-spot risk areas and mitigate possible losses,” says Dr Azmanis.

Following on from the tagging programme will be an initiative to persuade the lappet-faced vulture to breed in the reserve.

Conservationists hope to make the reserve 'not only an area where vultures feed, but also breed'. Photo: DDCR

Likely sites for artificial nesting platforms are some of DDCR's 12 acacia groves. Four of these are ancient, and for centuries provided shade for weary travellers journeying between the mountains and coast. Archaeologists have found traces of their stop-offs in pottery fragments, pendants, seashells, coral pieces and a spearhead.

If successful, the initiative would make the reserve even more important for the lappet-faced vulture, says Mr Roy, as it would “not only be an area where vultures feed, but also breed”. It could also help to create “a regional network where information is shared to help conservation efforts”.

The Environment Society of Oman seeks to raise the profile of the species through education – with a cute cartoon lappet-faced vulture for the classroom. Photo: Environment Society of Oman

Across the border, the Environment Society of Oman has its own lappet-faced vulture tagging projects − with partners such as International Avian Research and the Environment Authority of Oman − and runs raptor education programmes in the community.

ESO research and conservation manager Maia Sarrouf Willson welcomes the Dubai projects. “These initiatives help understand the birds' local and regional movements and their dependency on specific habitats. These habitats need to be protected to allow safe breeding and nesting spaces for the parents,” says Ms Sarrouf Willson.

“Additionally, tracking the birds paves the way for broader conservation efforts between countries.”

But if the project succeeds, where would fledged birds go? Driving along the perimeter fence of DDCR, the contrast is stark. Within the reserve’s boundaries' broom bush – or fire bush – in the north gives way to the rimth shrub in the south. Both offer shade and root systems that provide a home for rodents and reptiles (round entrances made by gerbils; slot-shaped openings excavated by desert monitors and Leptien’s spiny-tailed lizard).

The Arabian oryx is the Dubai Desert Conservation Reserve's most famous resident – and the UAE's national animal. All photos: Chris Whiteoak / The National

An Arabian oryx calf emerges from a dune on the reserve. The species has been brought back from the brink of extinction, in a huge conservation success story for the UAE

Sand gazelles are perfectly adapted to the reserve's landscape

A sandfish skink leaves tracks in the sand as it crosses the desert

The broom bush, or fire bush, dominates the landscape in the north of the reserve, providing vital shelter for many species

Round entrances to rodent burrows, under the shelter of a bush on the reserve

The distinctive slot-shaped entrance to the burrow of a Leptien’s spiny-tailed lizard

This seemingly barren landscape is in fact teeming with life

However, it is a fragile ecosystem

Beyond the boundary, this rich – but fragile – ecosystem is replaced by a grazed landscape, dominated by Sodom’s apple shrubs and desert squash vines.

Human disturbance, loss of habitat and loss of food sources are among the biggest threats facing the lappet-faced vulture, which needs quiet, remote places to raise its chicks over six months. Is the DDCR team concerned that if they do manage to persuade lappet-faced vultures to breed, there will be no habitat for young birds beyond its perimeter?

“Looking at the proximity of the Hatta mountainous region to the DDCR and the reserve’s abundance of antelope and other food sources, at this stage there aren't any apparent concerns for fledged chicks,” says Mr Roy.

A lappet-faced vulture chick in its nest in Oman. Birds from there visit Dubai Desert Conservation Reserve. Photo: Antonia Vegh

Dr Azmanis says this issue already exists, as “fledglings already roam large distances between the UAE and Oman”.

For the lappet-faced vulture to flourish in the Emirates, he says it is vital that residents know this spectacular bird is in their midst, and learn to celebrate and protect it.

“There is still a lot of need for special public awareness to highlight the importance of the lappet-faced vulture and its conservation in the UAE, and the Arabian Peninsula in general. Tagging and breeding will surely boost this awareness,” says Dr Azmanis.