Bearded Vultures – or Lammergeier – (Gypaetus barbartus) are a distinctly un-vulturine-looking vulture. They are found in most of the mountainous regions throughout Asia, Europe, and Africa. Most of their populations have been decimated – the South African population numbered around 100 breeding pairs in 2012, and there has been a 25-29% drop in numbers worldwide over the past three generations. It doesn’t help that pairs have very large territories which they defend – throughout their range they are very sparsely located.
They were once thought to take lambs (hence the name Lammergeier), but are bone-eaters. They can get over 80% of their nutrition just from bones, supplementing the rest with carrion. This works out quite well for them, as there are very few other species that do this, so there isn’t a lot of competition for it as a food resource.
All vultures play an extremely important role in the ecosystem by cleaning up the remains of dead animals, but this has also been a contributing factor to their decline. Dead cattle that were treated with the anti-inflammatory diclofenac has wreaked havoc on populations of many species of vulture in South Asia, who ingest the flesh and then suffer from kidney failure. Bearded vultures were particularly hunted in Europe by people with the erroneous belief that they would carry off livestock and children. Currently they’re threatened by poisoning, collision with powerlines and wind turbines, and habitat modification.
Giant’s Castle is a great place to see Bearded Vultures. During the winter months, bones are fed out to help the local population make it through the lean season. There are now two hides that you can book to view (and photograph) the vultures from. While it’s possible to see the birds there in summer (we did!), winter is definitely the best time of year. The golden grass of the distant hills also makes a great background!
Spending two days on top of the mountain, Dad and I were lucky to see a good number of Bearded vultures of all different ages. Their plumage starts out very dark around the head before turning white as they mature. They attain their full adult plumage at around 6 years of age, and can live up to 20 years in the wild.
At one stage we even had two adults circling overhead, talon-locking and spiralling down together! Unfortunately we were heading back down the track at that stage, and weren’t ready enough to get any photos. It was still an amazing experience just to see so many, and to get some cool photos of these rare birds.
Next week we’re going to look at another rare species of vulture found at Giant’s Castle – the Cape Vulture.
