Supplementary Feeding and Changes in Breeding-Site Occupancy of Griffon Vultures Gyps fulvus within the King Salman Bin Abdulaziz Royal Natural Reserve, Saudi Arabia

This study assessed Griffon Vulture Gyps fulvus breeding-site occupancy before and after the introduction of supplementary feeding in the King Salman Bin Abdulaziz Royal Natural Reserve, northern Saudi Arabia. Fifty-seven cliff sites were surveyed in 2024 and resurveyed in 2025 after feeding stations operated during the breeding period. Occupancy increased from 56.1% to 75.4%, with colonization of inactive sites exceeding losses. Occupancy was highest in the zone where feeding-station use was greatest, although this zone also had the highest pre-feeding occupancy. Across the survey area, 82 active nests were recorded in 2025. The results suggest that carefully managed feeding using veterinary-screened carcasses may support breeding-site use, but the before-and-after design without an independent unfed control area limits causal inference, and longer-term monitoring is needed to distinguish sustained population growth from short-term redistribution.