A sharp decline in south Asian vulture populations (>95%) was first recorded in the late 90s in Bharatpur, India (Prakash 1999). This decline was reported to be most severe for three species of vulture: Oriental White-backed Vulture Gyps bengalensis, Long-billed Vulture Gyps indicus and Slender-billed Vulture Gyps tenuirostris (Prakash 1999, 2003; Gilbert 2003). Various hypotheses were proposed to explain the cause(s) of decline and the renal failure and avian gout found in many dead vultures that were examined (Pain 2001; Gilbert 2003). Eventually, a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) named diclofenac sodium was found to be highly correlated with numbers of dead vultures found in Pakistan’s Punjab Province that died from renal failure and avian gout (Oakset al. 2004). Subsequent studies provided further evidence that diclofenac was the main cause of vulture mortality and population decline in south Asia (Green 2004, 2006). As a result, diclofenac was banned for veterinary use in India and other south Asian countries in order to protect depleted vulture populations. The positive effect of the ban on diclofenac was first reported in the form of gradually increasing populations of Long-billed Vultures in Pakistan (Chaudhary 2012) and a reduction in the rate of population decline of Gyps vultures in India and Nepal (Prakash 2012).

Of the nine species of vulture found in different habitats in India, seven occur in the western Indian state of Rajasthan (Naoroji 2007; Ali & Ripley2007). Once commonly distributed, species such as Oriental White-backed, Long-billed and Slender-billed Vulture are now categorised as Critically Endangered on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, and are while provided highest legal protection in Schedule-I of Indian Wildlife Protection Act (WLPA), 1972.

The Long-billed Vulture, easily distinguished from Slender-billed Vultures by the former’s relatively large size and long robust neck, is a cliff-nesting species (Naoroji 2007), although in the desert and grasslands of the Thar region in western India, they have been recorded nesting on trees (Kulshreshtha 2001). The breeding season for Long-billed Vultures is from October to May/June (Naoroji 2007) and, despite being a priority species for conservation, relatively little is known about their breeding and nesting ecology (Naoroji 2007). Here, we report information on the nesting ecology of Long-billed Vultures based on fortnightly monitoring of a nesting site at Gapernath, Chambal National Sanctuary, Kota, Rajasthan, India.