Bearded vulture

Gypaetus barbatus
Hawks and eagles (Accipitridae)

CC-BY 2.0 rights : Noel Reynolds

A large bird of prey with a light coloured orange-yellow head and belly, black back, tail and wings. The under-surface of the wings are unevenly coloured. Around the eye black markings al the way to the beak with some white next to it. The wings and tail are long and thin, clearly visible in flight. Young birds are completely dark.

It prefers mountainous areas with lots of steep cliffs and canyons. It catches prey but also feeds on carrion and marrow bone. It extracts the heart by dropping bones from a considerable height, so they break.

⇔ l. 100-115 cm

syn. Lammergeier, Ossifrage

It has only small patches of distribution areas in southern Europe, Middle East, Asia and North, East, Southern Africa. Very rare.

The national bird of Andorra.

LA:
≈ The wings of the GYPS FULVUS (Griffon vulture) are lighter coloured and broader, and it also lacks the head colours.
≈ The NEOPHRON PERCNOPTERUS (Egyptian vulture) has a yellow-white head, body and wedge-shaped tail and is much smaller.

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