Egyptian Vulture leaves Malta after three days of monitoring: BirdLife Malta

Rare Egyptian Vulture Bids Malta Goodbye After Three Days of Sky-High Drama

By Hot Malta Newsroom • 14 June 2024

The limestone bastions of Valletta were still catching the first gold of dawn when BirdLife Malta’s conservation team let out a collective cheer: the satellite dot representing “EV-214” – a two-year-old Egyptian Vulture affectionately nicknamed “Tas-Sewda” by local watchers – had just crossed the 12-nautical-mile line south of Filfla. After 72 hours of cliff-hopping, fish-market reconnaissance, and one very public bath in the Għadira salt pans, Malta’s most unexpected summer guest was finally on its way to Africa.

The bird’s departure marks the end of a nail-biting mini-saga that began on Tuesday morning, when a birder in Sliema posted a grainy photo of a “weird-looking falcon” on Facebook. Within minutes, veteran raptor-spotter Natalino Fenech confirmed it was an Egyptian Vulture – the first recorded sighting in the Maltese Islands since 2019 and only the 11th since 1950. By lunchtime, the country’s WhatsApp birding groups were buzzing like a beehive, and triangulation of crowdsourced photos revealed the vulture was patrolling the cliff-face between Għar Lapsi and Wied iż-Żurrieq, riding thermals above weekend barbeques and Instagram yoga sessions.

For a nation where birds are woven into folklore – from the legendary Maltese falcon to the village festa dove releases – a vulture’s arrival carries weight. “It’s like the Knights of St John sailing back into Grand Harbour,” says ornithologist and TV host Moira Delia. “This bird has navigated across an entire continent, dodged Libyan gunshots, crossed the Med at its narrowest point, and chosen our islands as a pit stop. That’s a badge of honour.”

The cultural symbolism didn’t go unnoticed. Schoolchildren at St Francis Primary in Cospicua re-enacted the flight in cardboard wings, while the band club of Marsaxlokk added a new verse to its festa march: “Il-vultun Misri, ħabibna fis-sema…” (“The Egyptian vulture, our friend in the sky…”). Even the usually unflappable fishermen at the Xlendi jetty found themselves glancing up instead of at the horizon, trading lampuki tips for birding apps.

Behind the scenes, BirdLife deployed its rapid-response “Raptor Guard” volunteers – a 30-strong team trained after the 2020 honey-buzzard poisoning scandal. Armed with telescopes, GPS units, and a healthy dose of ħobż biż-żejt, they fanned out across the south. Their mission: deter illegal hunting, educate selfie-stick-wielding tourists, and keep the vulture off freshly fertilised fields where poison baits sometimes lie. The Malta Police Force’s Administrative Law Enforcement unit provided back-up, confiscating three illegal electronic caller devices and issuing two warnings.

Not all encounters were smooth. A Russian influencer live-streamed herself chasing the bird for drone footage, prompting a heated debate on public radio about ethics versus exposure. Meanwhile, hunters’ federation FKNK issued a statement reminding members that vultures are strictly protected, a move welcomed by BirdLife as “a small but significant step toward reconciliation.”

Then came Thursday’s cliff-hanger. At 16:47, the transmitter’s hourly ping placed Tas-Sewda circling the Delimara peninsula – dangerously close to the Ħal Far shooting range’s active zone. Volunteers sprinted across the scrubland, waving reflective emergency blankets like matador capes to spook the bird away from the restricted airspace. By dusk, it had roosted on the sheer face of Għar Ħasan, its silhouette framed by Marsaxlokk’s twinkling fish-farm lights.

“Every minute felt like a penalty shoot-out,” admits BirdLife field coordinator Alex Micallef. “But those three days also showed what Malta can achieve when communities pull together. We had grandmothers baking pastizzi for volunteers, divers offering boat rides, and bus drivers announcing sightings over their PA systems.”

At 05:13 this morning, the vulture caught a thermal southward, climbing to 1,200 metres before disappearing beyond the horizon. BirdLife will continue monitoring the transmitter as the bird heads toward Tunisia and, ultimately, sub-Saharan Africa. The NGO plans to use Tas-Sewda’s GPS track in an interactive map for Maltese schools this autumn, turning a fleeting encounter into a long-term conservation lesson.

As the island’s collective sigh of relief ripples across Facebook feeds, one thing is clear: for three unforgettable days, an Egyptian Vulture reminded Malta that even the smallest archipelago can be a vital link in the planet’s great migratory chain. And somewhere over the Mediterranean, Tas-Sewda keeps flapping – carrying a tiny piece of the Maltese spirit on its epic journey home.