Mongolia supports the largest wild population of Cinereous Vultures (Aegypius monachus) in the world. They occur throughout Mongolia, whilst the species is endangered throughout the rest of its global distribution range.

With the support of the Peregrine Fund, which is a USA non-profit organization dedicated to conserve birds of prey in nature, we established a comprehensive research and conservation program for Cinereous Vulture in Mongolia. The program includes studies of nesting habitat requirement, food availability, survival, feeding habit, nestling growth, home range, foraging patterns, and migration.

A vulture monitoring site has been set up in Erdenesant in central Mongolia. Four adult cinereous vultures have been satellite tagged with the support from Wildlife Conservation Society and the Conservation, Food, and Health Foundation, and many more vultures wing tagged since the beginning of research program in 2002.

Although there are plenty of nesting sites of the Cinereous Vultures in Mongolia, these are very much connected to the location of nomad herders’ livestock in most of the country. There are also threats of shooting and poisoning in some parts of Mongolia.

Every year more than a thousand young vultures migrate to Korean peninsula for wintering where they encounter starvation, electrocution, poisoning, and shooting. We are working with ornithologists and birdwatchers in both Korea and Mongolia to safeguard their wintering environment with the support from the Cultural Heritage Administration of South Korea and the Ministry of Nature, Environment, and Tourism of Mongolia.

Another significant project currently under implementation is the Research and Conservation of Saker Falcon (Falco cherrug) in Mongolia.

The populations of Saker Falcons in Central Asia are under severe threat for a number of years from illegal harvesting and trapping for falconry use in Middle East. Mongolia remains one of the countries supporting a significant population of Saker Falcons although there are many threats to this population which still exist. The main objective of our research activities in Mongolia is to monitor the wild population and develop a science-based model for sustainable harvesting of wild Saker Falcons using artificial nest sites as a means of increasing breeding productivity in nest-site limited habitats.

On this project we are partnering with the International Wildlife Consultants Ltd from UK under a research agreement signed between Environmental Agency of Abu Dhabi, UAE and the Ministry of Nature and Environment of Mongolia on 25th November 2007.

Previous studies documented that in nest-site limited regions there is an existing non-breeding population of adult Saker Falcons. These non-breeders can be encouraged to breed by providing artificial nests, and so increase the size of the breeding population in these areas.