The case of a mysterious photo, help needed!

The case of a mysterious photo, help needed!

Priroda News

We bring you an interesting and somewhat mysterious story about the postcard/photo in the attachment. It was acquired through on-line second-hand shop in Croatia, and its previous owner had no additional information about its origin. However, the depiction in the photo definitely intrigued us. All the inscriptions, in German and Italian, suggest that the scene was captured on the island of Cres.

The falconer is standing on a dry-stone wall, and next to him are tame vultures – two griffon vultures to his right, while the bird on his left is a lappet-faced vulture (Torgos tracheliotus, hereafter referred to as “torgos”). And this is where the story becomes interesting.

If the bird in question were a cinereous vulture (Aegypius monachus), historically nested and was present in the Kvarner region, it would be nothing unusual. In fact, it would be another valuable ornithological record. However, the torgos does not live in Europe. Its closest natural habitat to Cres is the Middle East, specifically Israel and southern Jordan. Experts estimate that the photograph might date back to the 1930s. However, considering the presence of the torgos, which does not quite fit into this “Cres story”, we partially doubt that the depiction of the falconer was actually taken on Cres.

The photograph was archived under a reference number, and “Agenzia Abazzia” was supposedly the post office in Opatija at the time. Then someone logically concluded that the location might be Cres, given that the island has always had a large vulture population That would make sense—between the two World Wars, could this simply be a case of a “traveling falconer”? Or perhaps the person in the photograph was indeed a Cres resident who had acquired a torgos and exhibited it alongside his tame vultures?

The case of a mysterious photo, help needed!

We began our modest investigation: Dr. sc. Goran Sušić, a vulture expert, referred us to ornithologists in Israel, who might have some additional information (since the torgos is an important species for conservation in that region, and as we mentioned, this is exactly the area from where this bird could potentially have reached Cres – we are still waiting for an answer).

At the same time, there is an interesting story about the torgos, which once stayed in the Beli recovery center. Some of you might have immediately thought that this could be the same bird – since vultures are a long-lived species, but in a conversation with Dr. sc. Sušić, who established and managed the Beli rehabilitation center for vultures in the 1990s, we ruled out that theory.

Our colleague Fulvio Genero, who works on vulture conservation in northeastern Italy, contacted the museum in Trieste at our request. Trieste zoologist Nicola Bressi does not rule out the possibility that the photograph was indeed taken on Cres. At the time, torgos vultures had expanded into Palestine, which was a regular destination for Lloyd’s ships. Many Cres and Lošinj residents worked on these ships, meaning it is quite possible that someone acquired the bird in Palestine and brought it to Cres as an “exotic species”.

This theory is realistic and very possible. However, if the photograph truly dates back to the 1930s, perhaps there is another copy somewhere on Cres—in a private collection, an old box of postcards, or even preserved in oral tradition:

“Yes, I remember that, the old folks used to tell us about a man who had tame vultures and displayed them…”

After all, this isn’t ancient history. That is precisely why we need the help of social networks! If anyone has additional information (about the photograph or our mysterious falconer) please share it with us so we can shed light on this case of a mysterious photograph!