"Lammergeiers" --- Bearded Vultures, Buseu, Spanish Pyrenees.

[Gottshotz]

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D850 with Nikkon 400mm f2.8 ISO 140, 1/1600 sec. (tripod) 28/05/19 --- The rarest and largest vultures in Europe with a wingspan of 9 feet. The fiery orange to gold colouration comes from their instinctive habit of rubbing soil stained with iron oxide into their feathers. The darker Vulture on the left is an immature bird.

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Standing up to 4 feet tall, it is a scavenger, with 80% of its diet coming from bone and bone marrow, digested within 24 hours due to a stomach acid of pH 1. The adult in this photo picked up the bone beside its left foot and swallowed it whole, just like a "sword swallower" !

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Larger bones, like the Goat's leg in this pic will be dropped onto a favourite rocky spot, from a height of circa 100 metres to shatter it and release the bone marrow. I noticed that each bird picked up the bone in its talons, ran forward to gain take off speed (much like a Swan or Albatross) and once air born transferred the bone to its beak by bringing its leg forward to the mouth rather than by bending its head down and backwards to take the bone off the foot --- interesting !

 

[pimnauta]

Lovely series of shots!

 

[Callie]

great series!

 

[Gottshotz]

Lovely series of shots!

Thanks pimnauta --- I had been wanting to see these impressive birds for years, and after some research I discovered this feeding station, run by a wealthy enthusiastic conservationist high up in the Pyrenees. I see that you live within possible driving range, so if you want more details about this site, don't hesitate to contact me.

 

[Gottshotz]

great series!

Thanks Callie --- Thankfully the European populations of these wonderful birds are slowly recovering, largely due to the efforts of individual conservationists, like Jordi Canut who set this site up !

 

[DRwyoming]

Great photos and thanks for the behavior information. Very cool to learn more about different animals we don't have over here. Stomach pH of 1, wow!

 

[gordon_g]

This is a cool looking Bird (said in my best Austin powers voice). Seriously though that's a big guy!

 

[Gottshotz]

Great photos and thanks for the behavior information. Very cool to learn more about different animals we don't have over here. Stomach pH of 1, wow!

Thanks DRwyoming --- I thought the additional info about this very specialized bird might be of interest.

 

[Kathy G]

Great series of photos and I really like the info - it really adds to an appreciation of the photos

 

[Gottshotz]

This is a cool looking Bird (said in my best Austin powers voice). Seriously though that's a big guy!

Thanks gordon_g --- It is a striking looking bird, and surprisingly large for an animal that doesn't eat much meat, apart from the odd lizard or river turtle, apparently.

 

[Gottshotz]

Great series of photos and I really like the info - it really adds to an appreciation of the photos

Thanks Kathy G --- Its specialized "bony" diet helps explain its rarity and the fact that its head is covered in feathers --- it doesn't feed like other Vulture species so no cloying meat, blood or gore to have to clean off after eating.

 

[Callie]

Thanks Callie --- Thankfully the European populations of these wonderful birds are slowly recovering, largely due to the efforts of individual conservationists, like Jordi Canut who set this site up !

good to hear. We have them, well, same name and look, in the Drakensberg, they are just So majestic. Yours seem to have more fluff around the mouth than ours do. I just love the adult sitting and the one with the food in the bill. I add a musgshot, delete it if required

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, not meaning to intrude.

 

[Howard]

Beauties,

 

[pimnauta]

Thanks pimnauta --- I had been wanting to see these impressive birds for years, and after some research I discovered this feeding station, run by a wealthy enthusiastic conservationist high up in the Pyrenees. I see that you live within possible driving range, so if you want more details about this site, don't hesitate to contact me.

Thank you for your suggestion and although it looks rather close on the map, in reality, the distance between Holland and Spain is quite far and certainly for a drive.
Thank you anyway for your kind gesture.
Who knows in ten future when things have changed (I mean Covid-19) and we're free to roam around more than now.

 

[Gottshotz]

good to hear. We have them, well, same name and look, in the Drakensberg, they are just So majestic. Yours seem to have more fluff around the mouth than ours do. I just love the adult sitting and the one with the food in the bill. I add a musgshot, delete it if requiredView attachment 1942, not meaning to intrude.

No problem at all Callie, its good to compare notes, and yes this is a Bearded Vulture, but it is an African sub-species. Originally they were found in Ethiopia, Lestho and the Drakensberg but have sadly diminished so that only the Drakensberg birds are left. A re-wilding project to breed up from the existing gene pool was started in 2015, and I think the numbers have risen to approx 250 individuals.

 

[Gottshotz]

Beauties,

Thanks Howard --- did you see the reports of a young Bearded Vulture being spotted, first in Kenilworth on 25th June this year, and then in July in the Peak district ? This sighting may become a more common occurrence as more animals are exploring the northern boundaries of their range due to climate change.

 

[Gottshotz]

Thank you for your suggestion and although it looks rather close on the map, in reality, the distance between Holland and Spain is quite far and certainly for a drive.
Thank you anyway for your kind gesture.
Who knows in ten future when things have changed (I mean Covid-19) and we're free to roam around more than now.

Or, these birds may come north to visit you !! I read that the young Bearded Vulture spotted in England this summer had, in fact, past through the Netherlands and Belgium on the way to the UK around the middle of June .

 

[pimnauta]

Or, these birds may come north to visit you !! I read that the young Bearded Vulture spotted in England this summer had, in fact, past through the Netherlands and Belgium on the way to the UK around the middle of June .

Yes, I've heard it when it did visit these countries and it was very exciting news for the birders among us.
I must be honest I liked birds but I wasn't into bird photography then as I'm now. Surely I photographed waterfowls along the waterside just to be busy with photography (was more into sports and portraits) and now I'm aiming more towards bird photography.