bearded vulture
The bearded vulture is like the spirit of the mountains. In terms of behavior and eating habits, it is completely different from other birds of prey. It is surrounded by many myths and legends, and partly due to misconceptions, it was nearly hunted to extinction in Europe. Fortunately, it was brought back from the brink, and thanks to this, we can still enjoy this magnificent bird today.
The bearded vulture is one of the rarest birds of prey in Europe. There are only around 500 breeding pairs living in Europe, which is very few. The global population is only 1,700 – 6,700 individuals, which is also very small.
The bearded vulture’s unusual behavior habits
The bearded vulture is a true giant of the mountains, with a wingspan of up to 285 cm, a body length of up to 125 cm, and weighing 8 kg. It is one of the largest birds of prey in the world. Belonging to the vulture family, it differs significantly from them. Unlike all other vultures, it does not have a bare neck. It also has a much longer tail, which is clearly visible in the upper image.
bearded vulture close up
The bearded vulture’s feeding habits are particularly unique. Bones make up 85-90% of its diet. It is capable of swallowing a bone the size of a lamb’s femur in one go. If it doesn’t fit, it can bite it in half. For larger bones, it uses a method where it flies high into the sky and drops the bone onto a rock. Once the bone breaks, it can swallow the smaller pieces. If it doesn’t break, the vulture repeats the process until the bone is sufficiently shattered into pieces.
By the way, returning to the legends, the ancient Greek philosopher Aeschylus is said to have died in 458 BCE when a stone, dropped by a bird, fell on his head. It is speculated that it was a bearded vulture, which mistakenly thought his head was a rock and attempted to crush the bone it had carried into the sky. The bearded vulture is capable of carrying a bone weighing up to 4 kg into the sky. If you imagine that falling on your head, it would indeed be quite a painful blow.
bearded vulture swallows the bone
Another interesting behavior of the bearded vulture is its coloring. The orange color of its feathers is not natural. Its body plumage is typically beige-white. The orange color is a result of the bird deliberately coloring itself. These birds actively seek out iron oxide streams and bathe in them. It is believed that this serves both as a form of self-decoration and as a way to fight infections. By doing this, the bird tries to combat potential infections and keep its nest clean.
Gypaetus barbatus
The bearded vulture is an omen of misfortune.
The bearded vulture is associated with many legends and mythology. In the Middle Ages, it was called the legendary phoenix in Europe due to its red eyes and bright orange plumage. In Iran, where one of its main habitats is located, it is considered a mythical bird whose sight brings great luck. Its name was Huma. In ancient Persia, it was believed that if the shadow of this bird passed over a person as it flew across the land, they would experience extraordinary luck. In Ottoman poetry, it is described as a bird that stays aloft for its entire life. By the way, even an asteroid, 3988 Huma, named after the bearded vulture, exists. This was intended to celebrate a stone that flies constantly and whose sight brings good fortune.
lammergeier
The bearded vulture once inhabited most of the mountainous areas of Europe, and its range extended as far as Tibet. It is also found in East and South Africa. In Europe, it has historically survived only in the Pyrenees, Crete, and Corsica. Tremendous efforts have been made in the Alps to reintroduce these magnificent birds. The long work has borne fruit, and today, mountain giants can be encountered there.
In Europe, the bearded vulture was surrounded by misconceptions. It was believed to kill livestock and take small children from villages as food. This was the main reason why these majestic birds were deliberately hunted. It is hard to believe, but in 1913, the last bearded vulture was shot in the western Alps of Italy, and the last one in the French Alps was killed in 1920. There is even a photograph of the 1913 bird, with hunters posing next to it. By the early 1930s, the bearded vulture had become extinct in the Alps.
bearded vulture in flight
By the early 1980s, there were only about 200 bearded vultures left in all of Europe. By this time, they had been extinct in the Alps for decades. This marked the beginning of an immense effort to reintroduce the bearded vulture to the Alps. The project largely relied on birds living in zoos. Some of these birds’ chicks were taken from their nests, and based on them, the restoration work began. The entire process was thoroughly studied to determine where and how to release them, and in 1986, the first birds were released into the wild in the Rauris Kruml valley. Since then, there have been several waves of releasing young birds into the wild, which has helped reintroduce bearded vultures to the Alps. In 1997, the first offspring of the wild bearded vultures were born in the Alps.
Bearded vultures get adult only at the age of 5-7 years.
Bearded vultures reach adulthood only at the age of 5-7 years and can start breeding at 8-9 years old. In the wild, they live for about 20-22 years, while in captivity, they can live up to 45 years. The bearded vulture typically lays two eggs in its nest. Since the time between the eggs is quite long, the older chick is usually much stronger than the younger one. As with some other birds of prey, the older chick dominates the nest, and the younger one often dies.
Bearded vultures take turns incubating the eggs and both parents feed and care for the chicks together. They are highly territorial in their area, attacking both intruding conspecifics and other birds. The territory they patrol and monitor daily is very large, covering about 2 km².
bearded vulture landing
The bearded vulture is a curious bird, and if you go hiking in the mountains, it may happen that this 3-meter giant flies very close to the hiker. This can easily create the feeling that it is attacking.
bearded vulture and mountains
The bearded vulture is very clever and observant when searching for food. It doesn’t just look for food with its eyes, but also observes the behavior of other animals and birds, trying to determine the location of food based on that. By the way, its strong stomach acid allows it to dissolve bones, which it successfully manages to do.
lammergeier and mountains
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