The White-rumped Vulture (Gyps bengalensis) is an accipitrid vulture native to Asia. Once known as the world's most abundant large bird of prey, its population declined dramatically across its range during the 1990s. As a result, it is listed on the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List as critically endangered. From 2010 to 2021, we monitored two breeding colonies of White-rumped Vultures in the Argha Important Bird and Biodiversity Area, Arghakhanchi District, in the western mid-hill region of Nepal. We visited the colonies at least three times in each breeding season during November, February, and April and calculated nesting success. We estimated annual trends in number of occupied nests (i.e., nesting activity, egg, nestling, or adult in incubation posture), number of fledglings, and productivity (i.e., young fledged per occupied nest). The number of occupied nests, fledglings, and productivity were analyzed separately using identical models. Although the number of occupied nests appeared to increase, the credible interval of the growth rate (r) overlapped zero (r = 0.05, 95% CRI = −0.06–0.16). The number of fledglings (r = 0.04, 95% CRI = −0.04–0.16) and productivity (r < 0.01, 95% CRI = −0.08–0.09) appeared stable. Our findings are encouraging because they suggest stable population and productivity levels in the two breeding colonies of this critically endangered bird. However, our survey covered a small portion of the global population over a single generation of the species. We recommend coordinated, widespread, and long-term monitoring of vultures across South Asia.

Habitat suitability is crucial to ensure the long-term persistence of species and can be identified based on relationships between species occurrences and underlying abiotic and biotic factors. We identified potential nesting habitat for the Egyptian vulture (Neophron percnopterus) in Nepal using ecological niche modeling with climatic variables. We estimated the currently suitable nesting habitat for Egyptian vulture in Nepal at 38,204 km2. We found a high probability of suitable nesting habitat on east-facing aspects, and the probability of a suitable nesting habitat was greater in more mountainous areas, particularly in central and western regions of Nepal. Precipitation was a major factor for predicting probability of the presence of nest sites for Egyptian vultures. After identifying potentially suitable habitat, we identified environmental factors affecting landscape-level suitable nesting habitat for Egyptian vultures using generalized linear models. For Egyptian vultures, sites near forests and human settlements were most suitable for nesting, roosting, and foraging, especially in central and western Nepal. Based on potentially suitable nesting habitat and previous work on Egyptian vulture foraging and roosting habitat, we recommend protecting forests near water sources and open areas for their long-term conservation.

Poisoning is the greatest threat to vultures globally. Asia’s vultures were driven to near extinction through poisoning by the veterinary non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) diclofenac. Since the ban on the veterinary use of diclofenac in Nepal in 2006, there has been a partial recovery of vulture populations in the country. However, other threats are emerging, including other vulture-toxic NSAIDs, as well as other forms of unintentional poisoning. The use of poison baits, whereby animal carcasses are laced with poison to target carnivores, often results in the collateral deaths of vultures. Here, we summarize the data on the number of such poisoning incidents, and the number of vultures killed, between 2011 and 2023. A total of 224 vultures of seven species were found dead at 22 poisoning incidents across the country. Himalayan griffons accounted for over half of the fatalities (n = 108), along with 93 White-rumped vultures and small numbers of four other species. We recommend that conservationists raise the awareness of this issue with local stakeholders, and try to devise mitigation measures to reduce the threat of poisoning to vulture population.