A four-month-old fledgling of the critically endangered white-rumped vulture, locally known as Dangar Gidda, was injured as it fell while attempting to fly.

The young vulture, which had grown up on a Saj tree in the Bhrikuti Community Forest of Buddhabhumi Municipality, fell into the drainage of a Gorusinge-based school on May 28. A local school teacher, Joseph Lepcha, rescued the chick and handed it over to the Division Forest Office in Kapilvastu.

A month ago, a chick of Lesser adjutant, locally called Bhundiphor Garud, fell from its nest on a Simal tree in ward 9 of Kapilvastu Municipality and sustained serious injuries. Local residents rescued the fledgling and handed it over to the Division Forest Office.

“Both baby birds died in the course of treatment,” said Khil Tamang, assistant forest officer at the Division Forest Office.

Similarly, a few days ago, two white-rumped vulture fledglings were injured in the Jatayu restaurant (a vulture feeding site) area in Pithauli of Nawalparasi district. “The fledglings that were growing in a tree in a local community forest fell to the ground and were injured while learning to fly. Their treatment is underway,” said Ishwari Chaudhari, a conservationist.

Yet another fledgling of a white-rumped vulture landed on the ground in Uchanimbu Community Forest in Lamahi Municipality, Dang, last week. According to conservationist Chirinjibi Khanal, the fledgling was injured while attempting to fly. “The bird was rescued, treated, and released back into the forest,” said Khanal.

Many fledglings of various vultures and other bird species sustain injuries while learning to fly from tall trees. According to ornithologists, these incidents are increasing, posing a major challenge for the conservation of endangered vulture species.

Ornithologist Krishna Bhusal says the shortage of food and water near the vultures’ nests is responsible for the rise in injuries among fledglings.

“The parent vultures go far and wide in search of food. But what they bring may not be enough. As a result, the chicks try to fly in search of food and fall to death or get seriously injured,” said Bhusal. “Many injured chicks die due to lack of treatment. It is essential to build more veterinary hospitals for the treatment of such injured baby birds.”

According to senior ornithologist Hemsagar Baral, most fledglings die from their injuries if they do not get good treatment and care. The mothers of injured fledglings cannot carry or fly them back to the nest, and this has created a significant challenge for vulture conservation.

The fledglings of the world's rarest and critically endangered white-rumped vulture will be about to leave their nests to fly for the first time, usually in May or June.

The mother white-rumped starts building her nest between October and December. Then she lays egg and broods in the nest for about two months. The eggs hatch somewhere around January, and vulture hatchlings are ready to fly after four months.

“The white-rumped vulture lays only one egg, and it is very tragic to watch the fledgling die after being injured while learning to fly,” said Baral.

The nestlings learn to walk on the branches around their nest for a while until their wings grow.

“The mother white-rumped vulture builds her nest on the Saj, Simal, and Sal trees at a height of 40 to 50 metres, and falling from such a height critically injures the fledgling,” said Baral.

There are around 40 nests of white-rumped vultures in Uchanimbu Community Forest in Lamahi Sub-Metropolitan City, Dang. During a monitoring of vulture nests in the community forest, Bhusal and his team found a dead chick in the nest.

It looked like the nestling had died from starvation, said Bhusal. “Only 60 to 70 percent of vulture hatchlings survive to become adults,” said Bhusal.

Vultures are considered to be the cleaners of nature. They play an important role in keeping the polluted and smelly environment clean and tidy by eating decomposing and decaying carcasses.

Bijayraj Subedi, division forest officer at the Division Forest Office, Dang, said vultures also help control spreading epidemics like cholera, rabies, plague, and anthrax by keeping the environment clean.

“It is crucial to protect vultures as they play an important role in ecological harmony and making the food chain balanced and dynamic,” said Subedi.

Vultures prefer tall trees like Sal and Asana for nesting. When their offspring hatch, the leaves of the tree fall and new ones grow providing ample sunlight for the nestlings to develop.

Building the nests in tall trees makes it easier for the mother vultures to protect their eggs and nestlings from predators. A vulture is a scavenger bird that eats around 1 kilogram of carrion in three days and around 120 kilograms in a year, contributing to keeping nature clean.

Ornithologist Tikaram Giri said vultures are also worshipped and considered important from the Terai region to the mountains of Nepal.

“In Hinduism, vultures are worshipped as the mount of the god Shani. People from the Lama community of Tibetan origin living in the Himalayan region offer their dead to vultures, believing that those whose bodies are consumed by vultures are blessed and will go to heaven,” said Giri.

Of the nine species of vultures recorded in Nepal, four species—white-rumped vulture, slender-billed vulture, red-headed vulture and Indian vulture—are listed as critically endangered. The Egyptian vulture is listed as endangered, while the bearded vulture, cinereous vulture and himalayan griffon, have been classified as near-threatened.

The white-rumped vulture is the smallest among the nine vulture species found in Nepal. Its population dwindled during the 1990s. Several researchers have linked the use of Diclofenac, an anti-inflammatory drug used in treating livestock, to the decline. Studies have shown that vultures feeding on carcasses of livestock treated with this drug suffer kidney failure and die within a few days.

Since the government banned the production, sale and use of Diclofenac in 2006, the population of white-rumped vultures has gradually increased.

According to the Bird Conservation Nepal, currently, there are currently less than 2,000 white-rumped vultures in Nepal.