Overview
- A griffon vulture stayed about 48 hours in Klein Lobke in the Region Hannover and was witnessed driving off adult storks and eating nestlings, an event local residents and dpa reporters corroborated.
- Conservation group NABU reports that since mid‑June more than a dozen griffon vultures have been seen across Germany, with records in Bavaria, near Munich, Stuttgart, Hesse, Saxony, Thuringia, Brandenburg and Lower Saxony.
- Scientists stress that griffon vultures are primarily scavengers and say predation on live chicks is highly unusual, with experts attributing the attack to hunger in an individual rather than normal species behavior.
- Young, nonbreeding griffon vultures travel wide distances in spring and summer using thermal flight, sometimes covering 300–400 km a day, which makes short-term visits from Spain or France the most likely cause of the influx.
- Authorities warn that Germany’s fast removal of carcasses limits food for visiting vultures, ask the public to report weakened birds that linger, and note the influx has drawn birdwatchers while also raising concerns about disturbance and risks such as collisions with wind turbines.