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Natural Images |
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Griffon vulture...Gyps fulvus...Buitre leonardo |
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With a length from beak to tail at around 1 metre and a wingspan of around 2.65 metres the griffon vulture is the largest bird to be seen in the skies of the Sierra de Grazalema. (The black vulture is larger but is not resident here and is rarely if at all seen)
The griffon has a white bald head and very broad wings and a short tail. It has a white neck ruff and a yellow bill.
Breeding starts early and nests are repaired from February onwards with egg laying in March and chicks in April. Incubation is shared and the egg is never left unattended. When one bird returns from feeding a swap over takes place and the incubating bird leaves the nest in search of it’s own food . before settling down the parent tidies the nest site and turns the egg very gently. They are excellent parents, mate for life and use the same nest site each year if they can.
Young fledge 3 to 4 months after hatching. Griffons are mature enough to breed after 7 years, and live around 40 years Griffons are very social, living and nesting in colonies of 15 to 20 pairs. Sometimes more than 100 pairs compose a colony. After feeding on a carcass, Griffons often gather at a watering hole to bathe |
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Breeding on crags in mountainous parts of southern Europe, north Africa and Asia the Griffon vulture is well represented in the Sierra de Grazalema. One of the largest colonies in Spain is here in the Garganta Verde.
Like other vultures it is a scavenger and feeds mostly from carcasses of dead animals which it finds by soaring over open areas sometimes in large flocks.
We have observed a griffon vulture remove and eat a kestrel chick from it’s nest whilst the adult kestrels were away hunting. |