6

Rueppell's Vultures are large vultures. The underparts are dark-grey, with an unfeathered light-grey head and neck. Also the underwing coverts are dark-grey, with lighter grey spots, while the flight feathers are black. The upperparts, including the coverts of the upperwings, are grey. The flight feathers are dark-grey to black, as on the underside. Also the short, often fanned, tail is dark-grey. Juveniles have a clearly visible white wing bar near the leading edge.

Seen against harsh sunlight from below at a great distance, Rueppell's Vultures can appear to be all-dark on the underside, with a pale head and neck sticking out, often downwards.

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 Rueppell's Vulture is available HERE .

Rueppell's Vultures live in sub-Saharan Africa with a range spanning the width of the Sahel, from the West to the East coast. They are also present in the East African highlands, as far to the South as Tanzania.

In Europe Rueppell's Vultures are rare vagrants that are found only on the Iberian peninsula.

J. Pires reports spotting Rueppell's Vultures near Mora, Evora, Portugal, in October/November 2013. All sighting and photographic information presented on this page has kindly been contributed by J. Pires.