In rare good news for vultures in Africa, conservationists have confirmed the first-ever nest of a hooded vulture containing a chick in KwaZulu-Natal, a province in southeast South Africa. That marks the southernmost recorded nesting site of the critically endangered vulture species, according to KwaZulu-Natal-based nonprofit Wildlife ACT. “It gives us as conservationists some new hope, because mostly we get negative news when it comes to vultures,” Anel Olivier, species conservation director and vulture specialist at Wildlife ACT, told Mongabay by phone. “It also confirms a larger or a more southern distribution of breeding birds, which is significant in terms of our conservation strategies.” The discovery of the active hooded vulture (Necrosyrtes monachus) nest came during an aerial survey of vulture populations in Zululand in KwaZulu-Natal, conducted every five years by a few conservation organizations. For a decade, conservationists have spotted hooded vulture adults and pairs of the birds in Zululand and suspected the species breeds and nests in the area. However, the nests remained elusive as they’re particularly difficult to spot, since the birds roost beneath the tree canopy, Olivier said. “It is indeed good news that the suspicion that Hooded Vulture is breeding in Zululand has now been confirmed,” André Botha, co-chair of the Vulture Specialist Group at the IUCN, the global wildlife conservation authority, told Mongabay by email. “The discovery signifies a substantial southward expansion of the breeding range for the species from the southern Kruger National Park to Zululand and is a development worth celebrating,” added…This article was originally published on Mongabay

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