- Gypaetus barbatus
Location: Near Geech Camp, Simien Mountains, Ethiopia
Identification
Lammergeier (Bearded Vulture) Gypaetus barbatus
Unlike most vultures, Lammergeiers do not have a bald head. This huge bird is 95-125 cm (37-49 inches) long with a 235-280 cm (91-110 inches) wingspan, and is quite unlike most other vultures in flight due to its large, narrow wings and long, wedge-shaped tail. They weigh between 5 and 7 kg (11 and 15 lbs).
Adults have a buff-yellow body and head, the latter with the black moustaches which give this species its alternative name. Tail and wings are grey. Juvenile birds are dark all over, and take five years to reach full maturity. Most adult birds compulsively rub mud over their chin, breast and leg feathers, giving these areas a rust colored appearance. Lammergeiers are silent apart from shrill whistles at the breeding crags.
Distribution
Europe, Africa and Asia. The rarest breeding vulture in Europe breeding in the Pyrenees, in Greece and the northern Caucasus, and in very small numbers in Corsica and Crete. A reintroduction programme began in the Alps in 1986 with the first breeding in 1997, this population now numbers about 200 and birds are regularly seen in France, Switzerland, Austria and Italy. In 1998 fully wild Lammergeiers successfully bred in the French Pyrenees. In the Western Palearctic breeds most commonly in Turkey with relict populations in Sinai, possibly also Israel and northern Iraq. Also breeds in the south-west of the Arabian Peninsula and range extends east from the Caucasus across northern Iran to Pakistan, north into Central Asia, the Himalayas, Tibet and north-west and central China. In Africa breeds in the mountains of Morocco and Algeria, also in eastern Egypt and south to eastern Sudan, Ethiopia and the mountains of Kenya and Tanzania. In southern Africa occurs in Natal, Lesotho, Orange Free State and the far north of Cape Province. Adults are strictly resident and, while immatures may wander they very rarely leave mountain areas. In the Western Palearctic vagrants recorded in Portugal, Germany, Switzerland, the Czech Republic and Slovakia, also Bulgaria and the Ukraine, Cyprus, Syria and Lebanon. In 1994 a bird from the Alpine reintroduction programme was found on the Atlantic coast of France, in 1998 two were seen in the Netherlands, in 1999 another was recorded in Denmark. In May 2001 an immature was found on the German island of Ruegen in the Baltic and in 2002-3 there were further Dutch records. Occasionally seen at Gibraltar. In China a vagrant to Hopeh, Shansi and Hupeh.
Taxonomy
Habitat
In Europe usually 1,000-2,000m altitude in mountains. Found in areas with deep valleys and high ridges, nests on inaccessible cliffs or small caves and requires presence of chamois, ibex or wild sheep for carrion. In the Himalayas has been seen above 7,000m.
Behaviour
Like other vultures it is a scavenger, feeding mostly from carcasses of dead animals. It usually disdains the rotting meat, however, and lives on a diet that is 90% bone marrow. It will drop large bones from a height to crack them to get smaller pieces. Its old name of Ossifrage (or Bone Crusher) relates to this habit. Live tortoises are also dropped in similar fashion to crack them open. It breeds on crags in high mountains in southern Europe, Africa, India and Tibet, laying one or two eggs in mid-winter which hatch at the beginning of spring. They breed from mid December to mid February, laying 1 to 2 eggs, which hatch between 53 and 58 days. After which the young spend 106 to 130 days in the nest, before flying out on their own.
