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Lammergeier
(Gypaetus barbatus)
: "Bearded Vulture", "Ossifrage"
 German name(s): "Lämmergeier", "Bartgeier"
Size: 1.05-1.25 ; wing span 2.35-2.75 m
Weight: 4.5-7.8 kg
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Physical description |
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 Click here for a physical description
Lammergeiers are large vultures.
Females
are slightly larger than
males
and race
"barbatus" is larger and heavier than race
"meridionalis".
Their in-flight appearance is unmistakable, with long, narrow dark
wings with prominent primary "fingers" and a long dark, lozenge-shaped
tail contrasting with its buffy-yellow to rufous-buff front/body.
The neck above the dark chest band is darker rufous than the rest
of the underparts, in particular trousers and vent/undertail coverts.
The head is buff-yellow to light-grey, with dark-grey lores and
eyebrows. The upperparts are dark-grey, with lighter grey streaking,
especially on the flight feathers.
The eyes with yellow irises are surrounded by red orbital skin, while
the down-curved bill and the feet are grey. The species earns its name
as Bearded Vulture ("barbatus") with the feathered head and chin (while
other vultures tend to be bald-headed).
Juvenile
Lammergeiers are generally darker than adults. Head, neck, wings
and tail are dark-grey, while face, underparts and edge lining on
wing coverts are mid-grey. The mantle is pale-streaked.
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Taxonomy, classification |
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See Bearded
Vulture (=Lammergeier) at Wikipedia  .
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Range, habitat, finding this species |
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Click here for information on habitat
and range
The overall distribution of this species can be assessed, and
specific locations where birds have been spotted can be found,
based on individual sighting reports submitted by birdwatchers to
ebird.org
.
The global distribution of the Lammergeier is available
HERE
.
There are two extant races of Lammergeiers, which are a sedentary species.
Nominate race
"barbatus" has a distribution ranging from parts of southern Europe
via Asia Minor and the Caucasus into southern central Asia, up to western
Mongolia, western China and Tibet.
The African race
"meridionalis"
populates highland areas in parts of the
Atlas mountain range, parts of eastern Africa and also a small fraction
of the western Arabian peninsula, with occasional reports from locations
in the Middle East.
(For details of the distribution of both races see a field guide or, e.g.,
Wikipedia
).
In Europe Lammergeiers, nominate race "barbatus",
are found only in southern mountainous areas spanning
from Spain via the Pyrenees, the Alps and Sardinia and
small areas of mainland Greece, to Crete.
Lammergeiers live and breed in crags in high mountain ranges.
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Sightings |
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Click here for sighting information
Race "barbatus"
We have not seen Lammergeiers, nominate race "barbatus",
in Europe yet.
The bird shown below was found by D. Wilczynska on the southern
slopes of the Caucasus in Georgia in June 2018.
All photographic information presented on this page has kindly been
contributed by D. Wilczynska.
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Photos |
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Race "barbatus"
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ADULT |
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Near-lateral view of a Lammergeier in flight
(photo courtesy of D. Wilczynska)
[June 2018]
Ventral view of a Lammergeier in flight
(photo courtesy of D. Wilczynska)
[June 2018]
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Food, Diet |
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All raptors are carnivores. The diet of Lammergeiers consists to
70-90% of bones. Lammergeiers specialize in dropping bones onto
rocks from great height to break them and get to the marrow.
These pages are largely based on our own observations and those of our
contributors. The structure of these bird pages is explained HERE. For more salient facts on any bird species
please refer to a field guide.
Breeding
Nest
Eggs
Behaviour
Call/s
