We received some great news about Georges (F03), which has cheered us up immensely, since sadly Mirage (F08) has not recovered from the accident that she had the day after her release. Georges has safely reached Andalusia, where he was seen on September 12 by two local birders at the mouth of the river Guadalhorce in Malaga!

Born in eastern Germany in a family of three, he was translocated on June 28 to Switzerland, where he was released on July 23. He was named after the cross-like design on his head, in tribute to Georges Lacroix (meaning “the cross” in French), a French conservation pioneer who was instrumental in the successful Bearded Vulture reintroduction in the Alps of Haute-Savoie.

“Our” Georges was one of the first of this year’s birds to venture out to explore the area around the release site, and he was even filmed on August 13 at the Fanel nature reserve, practicing diving. He left on migration on September 4, so it took him eight days at the most to reach Malaga (about 1,450 km away from Bellechasse in a straight line).

Many thanks to Juan Ramirez and Antonio Tamayo for their observation and for giving us the photo above. We also thank Fernando de la Cruz, from the Council for Environment and Land Planning of the Andalusia Authority, for his message saying that their rangers would ensure the safety of Georges while he is in the Guadalhorce estuary reserve. Georges obviously chose a very nice place to stop in!