A white-rumped vulture fitted with a GPS tag in Nepal’s Shuklaphanta National Park has flown around 520 kilometres and reached Maharana Pratap Sagar, also known as Pong Dam, in India’s Himachal Pradesh, highlighting the species’ extensive foraging range across borders.

The adult vulture, tagged in the Tarapur area of Shuklaphanta National Park on March 16, reached Pong Dam on March 18 after a transboundary flight passing through India’s Jim Corbett National Park, conservation officials said.

According to Dilip Chand, project officer at Bird Conservation Nepal, the bird is still active and has been moving around forested areas near the reservoir in Himachal Pradesh.

“Since leaving Nepal, it has been roaming around the forest belt near the dam. There is no immediate concern as its movement pattern looks normal,” he said.

The vulture is part of a monitoring programme tracking white-rumped vultures, a scavenger species considered vital for ecosystem health. The tracking is carried out using GPS transmitters fitted on birds in Shuklaphanta.

Chand said if a bird remains stationary for an unusual period, field teams may be deployed for checks or possible rescue operations. He added that coordination is ongoing with conservation partners in India, including the Bombay Natural History Society, which works on vulture conservation in the region.

Between 2025 and March 2026, conservationists fitted GPS tags on 15 white-rumped vultures in the Hirapur and Tarapur areas of Shuklaphanta. Of them, 11 are adults, and four are sub-adults.

Tracking data shows that several vultures regularly cross into India’s Uttarakhand region, including Pithoragarh and Lohaghat, as well as areas along the Mahakali river in Uttar Pradesh, before returning to Nepal.

Within Nepal, movements have been recorded across Baitadi’s Pancheshwar and Mailauli, Dadeldhura’s Amargadhi, and Kailali’s Godavari, often involving short stopovers of one to two days depending on food availability.

“These birds travel long distances in search of carcasses,” said ornithologist Hiru Lal Dangaura from Bird Conservation Nepal. “They may return the same day or stay briefly before moving again.”

The GPS tracking has been fitted to vultures to study their search for food and habitat. The organisation had also tagged vultures with GPS a decade ago for research purposes, and the study is still being carried out regularly.

“Every day we monitor where the vulture has reached and how far it has travelled. All of this is being studied,” said project officer Chand. “If a vulture shows no movement for a certain period, a rescue operation may also be required.”

He added that vultures had previously been rescued from different parts of India with support from the BNHS.

The Hirapur and Tarapur areas of Shuklaphanta National Park are considered suitable habitats for vultures. Birds are regularly sighted in these areas, and GPS tagging is carried out from the same locations.