Latin Etymology: Gypaetus ("Vulture eagle") barbatus ("bearded")
1st Summer Female Bearded Vulture (subspecies G. b. aureus) at Cowbit, Lincolnshire - October 2020
Featured Subspecies: Gypaetus barbatus aureus
Weight: 4.5-7.1kg / Length: 105-125cm / Wingspan: 250-282cm
NO UK STATUS / IUCN Red List: Near Threatened
The Bearded Vulture is truely one of the more unusual species of raptor - while the other species of vulture have adapted to feeding on carrion, the Lammergeier is a specialist of bone and marrow. They can digest bone itself, and where they are too large to deal with directly, will drop them from great heights to break into them marrow. One of the largest flying bird species in the world, while their range spreads across Africa, Asia and Europe, they are generally confined to isolated pockets in mountainous regions. This particular individual was particularly unusual - while the reintroduced population in the Alps had been expanding rapidly, this third generation young female flew off and ended up moving around the UK.
Related Species:
Order: Accipitriformes
Family: Accipitridae
Genus: Gypaetus
SUBSPECIES: G. b. barbatus, G. b. aureus, G. b. meridionalis, G. b. hemachalanus
- Sighting Locations -
UNITED KINGDOM - A vagrant, believed to be originating in the reintroduced population in the Alps
- A 1st Summer female was a vagrant in the Summer of 2020, seen at Cowbit in Lincolnshire.
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