A vulture that vanished from Portugal's skies in the 1970s just founded a brand-new colony

The cinereous vulture was extinct as a breeding bird in Portugal in the 1970s. This year its comeback reached a new milestone: monitors counted between 127 and 131 breeding pairs across western Iberia, up from 119 to 126 last year, and an estimated 61 to 68 young birds fledged, up from 56. Best of all, a brand-new colony was discovered at Monfortinho in central Portugal — two breeding pairs among seven nests, producing a fledgling — bringing the country's known colonies to six, several of them shared across the border with Spain.

SDG 15 · Life on land — Mechanism: institutional program