Keshav Jeev-Van FoundationHarmony in Diversity
Join the Biodiversity CircleExplore Our Programmes

Bird

Eurasian Bearded Vulture

Gypaetus barbatus barbatus

Eurasian Bearded Vulture (Gypaetus barbatus barbatus) photographed by Devendra Bhardwaj

Image: Devendra Bhardwaj · iNaturalist · CC BY-NC 4.0 · Uttarakhand · Resized

Scientific name
Gypaetus barbatus barbatus
Family
Accipitridae, order Accipitriformes
Group
Bird

The bone-breaker of the high mountains.

  • Spot it Huge bird with a wedge tail and a dark 'beard'.
  • Home High mountain cliffs and slopes.
  • Food web Eats mostly bones, dropping them from the air to crack them.
  • Why it matters Eats bones other animals leave behind, recycling calcium and keeping mountain slopes clean.
Sources and credits

Records and field notes

  • IndiaDevendra Bhardwaj has 1 verified record of this species on iNaturalist in 2011, in Uttarakhand.[20]

Sources

  1. Devendra Bhardwaj. iNaturalist observations and notes, with place and date (inaturalist.org/people/devendrabhardwaj) (field record). The observer's own dated records and notes, with places. Statements in his notes are his own and were not independently checked by KJVF.
  2. GBIF Backbone Taxonomy and GBIF species data (family, order, Hindi names, IUCN category) (database). Open biodiversity data. Used for classification, Hindi common names and the IUCN category where one is given.
  3. Short introductions and key points written with AI help (Google Gemini and Claude) and checked against GBIF where possible (reference). AI-assisted text for general readers. Please check important details before relying on them.

The tag before each record shows the place it was checked for.

More in Birds