Gabriel and his long journey

Born at CERM and released in the Murgia Materana Park in summer 2021 as part of the Egyptian vulture LIFE Project, young Egyptian vulture Gabriel returned to Italy from his wintering area in Mali in spring 2025. Following his first return from Africa in 2024, Gabriel departed the sub-Saharan country on March 25, 2025, for his second spring migration. After reaching Cap Bon, the tip of Tunisia stretching towards Sicily, he left the African continent for Italy on April 16, 2025

For his return, he followed a completely unusual route never taken before by other GPS-monitored individuals. Passing just off the coast of western Sicily, he flew continuously over the sea for 477 km, making landfall in the Roman Coast State Nature Reserve, north of Rome, Lazio. Having left Cap Bon at 11:14 am, he arrived in the protected area of Lazio at 8:53 pm. He remained there until April 19, when he headed south to the release zone in Basilicata. After spending ten days between Basilicata and Puglia, Gabriel left on another long journey on April 30. He first crossed the Adriatic Sea to Albania and continued south to Greece. After turning north and passing over Macedonia, Montenegro, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, and Slovenia, he returned to Italy via Friuli-Venezia Giulia on May 26, 2025. After passing through Veneto, Lombardy, and Emilia-Romagna, Gabriel arrived in Tuscany on May 29. In an incredible turn of events, he stopped for a night just 15 km as the crow flies from the CERM Endangered Raptors Centre, where he was born four years before, on May 26, 2021. CERM members Guido Ceccolini and Luca Passalacqua visited the area, where they observed and filmed him in the Grosseto countryside. The following day, the young vulture left again, relocating from the birth area to the release site in Basilicata. It frequented the area between Basilicata and Puglia until August 16t, before starting its autumn migration. It reached western Sicily and on September 3 he departed from Marettimo island (Egadi), crossing the Mediterranean Sea to reach Tunisia. On September 12, Gabriel arrived in his wintering grounds in Mali. Between leaving Mali and returning to the African continent (25 March – 12 September), Gabriel traveled 19,400 km!

Click here for the video of Gabriel in the province of Grosseto