Ever since I first witnessed the Bearded Vulture on a David Attenborough documentary many moons ago, I have been fascinated by them. I remember my thoughts when I first watched them on TV, and thinking what? A bird that lives off bones? How can this be, and how have I not heard of them before? From that point I really wanted to see them the wild, and later on, photograph them. I am not one for choosing a favourite animal or bird, but if I had to chose favourite bird, then Lammergeier would be right up there, mainly due to their beauty, rarity, and peculiar lifestyle. My first opportunity came in around 2010 on a trip to the Drakensberg Mountains in South Africa. I saw them, and photographed them, but the sighting was brief and the pictures poor, mere record shots. I have also seen them before in the Picos De Europa area of Northern Spain with my friends Sean Kerrigan and Ricardo Montero on a jaunt to try and see Wallcreeper. Again the sighting was a flash, and the pictures were bang average. So I have since been plotting and planning to get a proper view of them, and spend some time trying to get good photographs. Then in Summer of this year (2020), a now infamous lammergeier arrived on UK shores and stayed for some time, making all sorts of news and discussion. In fact, it is still in the UK at the time of writing, (29th September, 2020). This presented many people in the UK the chance to see this magnificent bird and get some excellent photographs. So much so that I have heard people say they are sick of seeing it now. I, like many others made the pilgrimage up the Derbyshire moors to see this giant of the skies. Some of the photos of it dwarfing our local buzzards are incredible. But for me, this was still not enough and I stilled yearned to see them in their natural habitat of the Pyrenees or Alps (or insert any of the mountain ranges where they exist here).
Then, in the midst of the Covid pandemic, I had to go on a business trip to Andorra with my company EcoSpeed. Bingo, I knew there was a strong population in this area and knew of a few places where I could get some excellent photographic opportunities. One of them was the Buseu Project in the Spanish Pyrenees. I have previously been in discussions with them about visiting, with the prospect of bringing groups of wildlife photographers and enthusiasts in the future. A perfect chance for a recce trip.
Before I went to the project though, I had a a good nosey around Andorra in the hope of seeing vultures and all things alpine. It’s an absolutely beautiful country that had some excellent birding when off the beaten track. My strategy here was to go as high in altitude as the roads would allow me, getting right above the treeline to get into the right habitat for all the alpine species. I had some excellent views of Crossbill, Citril Finch, Alpine Chough, Water Pipit, lots of vultures and super close Short-toed eagle.
The stunning habitats of Andorra
Common Crossbill, my best ever view. I could practically stroke it.
Short-toed eagle, part of the snake eagle complex.
Citril finch, above the tree line on the mountains.
I decided to go for a wander off the beaten track into a high valley that looked really interesting. Almost immediately there was a kettle of vultures that was descending rather than their usual habit of ascending on the thermals. My first thoughts were that there was a carcass attracting them all, so I scrambled down the valley sides to get a better view, knowing full well that what goes down must come back up. Every step I knew I was going to regret. Then, the unmistakable shape of Lammergeier flew past, with its long wedge shaped tail and huge straight wings. I stupidly sped up my descent, which ultimately led to nothing, as the flock were moving through the valley and were soon out of sight. Something was going on, but I wasn’t able to get a view of it. Anyway, tomorrow I had my visit to the Buseu project to look forward to. Here is the valley and the descent. Remember, there is a severe lack of Oxygen at 2500 meters so please have some sympathy for me :]
Running down a potential ski slope chasing vultures.
My extremely short stay in Andorra was over, and I moved over the border into Spain. My aim was to get some specific photos of all four species of European Vulture. I wanted something different, something a bit more arty that I could potentially put on my wall in my new house, or sell on this website as prints when my collaboration with the printer is finalised (soon). I wanted the pictures to tell a story about the sequence of events that takes place at any given carcass.
Anyway, I arrived in the jaw dropping valleys of the Spanish Pyrenees, which had a different feel to Andorra. The altitude was notably lower, yet still mountainous and craggy, but the vegetation was more arid and deciduous than the pine forested slopes in Andorra. I went to the meeting place for the Buseu project where I was to meet Jordi and Gerard, father and son. I was whisked off in their car and took up a small trail that snaked higher and higher into the mountains. The habitat was insanely good and the views to die for. We reached their family house, and the accommodation which was the only building on the mountain. I was greeted by other members of the family, mainly teenagers, who were fascinated with my lens, and we discussed wildlife and of course football. Then I was briefed on what was going to happen and got in position in my hide and waited for it to commence. As well as being a great opportunity to photograph vultures, it was also a conservation project and a Nature 2000 nature reserve, where ringing and other conservation activities took place.
My hide, and scene for the carnage that was about to happen
The owners had gathered offal and carcasses from local butchers which were about to be offered to the vultures, like some sort of sky burial. The minute they took the meat out of the cars the vultures were circling, testament to their amazing senses. Before you knew it there were nearly a thousand birds in the vicinity, all getting more and more brave as they anticipated the offerings being thrown out. The Griffon Vultures were cheeky, clambering over each other for the best position, some clumsily landing in nearby bushes like a crashing plane. The team at Buseu were a family unit, and all the children and cousins all helped get the food into position whilst fending off hungry vultures.
Eurasian Griffon Vultures lining up anticipating what was about to happen
Feeding time, wild vultures that are usually very timid drop their guide for some scraps.
Anyway, the carnage began, the meat was thrown and a feeding frenzy commenced. I honestly didn’t know where to point my lens, it was utter chaos. A huge ball of feathers, dust, and meat, accompanied by the guttural cackle of the vultures. I had to compose myself as I had no idea how long this was going to last. I only had 1 lens with me and that was a Canon 600 super telephoto. I did this deliberately so that I wouldn’t get distracted trying to get different shots with different lenses. I homed in on the shots I wanted, which were super close up, lots of detail and lots of action. It was 11AM and the mid August sun was shining from above, burning out the tops of the birds while casting an unfavourable shadow below. I was advised by Jordi that winter is the best time to visit as the light is more favourable and there is also a chance of snow which makes for good shots.
Anticipation
The pandemonium began. Meat, dust and feathers everywhere.
At one point, when Jordi and Gerard finished throwing the food, there was just a carpet of vultures with their heads down feeding, an amazing thing to see.
Arguments
There was blatantly some sort of hierarchy going on with the Griffons, as I noticed a lot of birds on their own around the edges, who made little effort to get stuck into the chaos of the middle, and consequently got less food. I presume these were subordinates who knew their place. Trying to understand that hierarchy was tricky, as I was too distracted with photography, so I would like to go back without a camera, and observe the social interactions in more detail. Right in the thick of it there were dominant birds who opened their wings right up, and put their heads down to make themselves look big and fierce. They were great photography subjects and I managed to get this shot which I really like.
Griffon making its self look big to guard its bit of territory around the meat.
Black vultures then started to arrive, which are slightly bigger and seemingly more dominant, even though they are faring less well as a species. Each one had a tag, to enable them to be closely monitored by local conservationists. Spain has 90% of all Black Vultures left in Europe, and that amounts to only 3000 pairs. They went extinct next door in France and have only relatively recently made a come back due to conservation efforts by people like the Vulture Conservation Foundation. So it was great to see these magnificent birds up close, even there was only around 5 birds there.
Eurasian Griffon Vulture standing up against a Black Vulture
Then, as the flesh started to deplete, the real undertakers started circling. Lammergeier! As you probably already know, these birds are not interested in meat, they are here for the bones. They get their queue from the large concentrations of griffons circling in the air, and travel from miles around. They patiently wait there turn and set in when the meat is stripped from the bone. They circle low over the fracas and scan through trying to pick out the perfect sized bones.
Mature adult Lammergeier
Juvenile Lammergeier
My favourite shot of the trip and one that will probably make it onto my wall at home.
Their heads are always moving and scanning, and their beady eyes pick out specific bones that they know they can swallow in one hit. A magnificent bird! A bit more wary to land, but once down, they steal the show. Dressed to kill, they stand out from the crowd with their lavish attire. The way they target a bone and literally wallop it in one is pretty special. The width of their open beak is also impressive, as when it's closed it looks like any other beak, but if you look closely, the gape of its beak goes way past the eye, to the widest part of its head, allowing it to really open up to get bones down the hatch. When they find a suitable bone, they juggle it into position with its beak, until the bone is lengthways and then throw it down with a few jolts of the head.
Adult Lammergeier with a hoof.
When landed on the ground I was able to truly admire the beauty of the Lammergeier. Their size, colours and detail in the feathers was something to behold.
This juvenile Lammergeier was a real beauty, a stunning creature in my eyes.
I love the jet black feathers of the adults with the white centre.
Three adults next to each other, showing variation from white to a rusty cream colour.
Then the next bird really shocked my. It only had one talon which was absolutely bizarre. The bird was so proficient without it that it took me quite some time to notice the fact that it had its foot ripped off. I have no idea of the back story to this bird or how it lost its foot, but I am sure someone does, so if you do know please let me know as I would love to know. Maybe it was tangled in some wire or stuck in a trap, or maybe even amputated by conservationists, who knows, but it looked in great shape without it. Here it is:
Adult Lammergeier with only one foot.
Then last but not least is the Egyptian Vulture. I here a lot of people talk about how ugly vultures are, but I don’t see it, I think they are stunning creatures. Admittedly they have a dirty role to play in the ecosystem, but that makes me admire them even more. But the Egyptian vulture has an even more strange role to play in the system.. One of their main sources of food is dung, such as cow, pig, horse and even human. It is not properly understood why they do this, as dung is nutrient poor, and full of parasites. But the leading theory is the fact that it contains a lot of lutein, which is the same pigment found in the facial skin of Egyptian Vultures, giving it that bright yellow look. The more vibrant the skin, the more dominant the bird and the greater chances of finding and keeping a mate. When dung is removed from their diets, say in captivity, their faces go much more dull. So eating dung is ultimately used to attract a mate. Fascinating stuff.
Egyptian Vulture
Four Species of vulture in one photo
That brings me to the end of my piece about European vultures. As mentioned earlier, I will soon be leading a tour to see these special birds in the Pyrenees, which will also include a bird photography workshop should people want to learn more. I will discuss different techniques to get shots like this, as well as how to then edit shots in Lightroom and various other programs to get the above results. I am just waiting for the Covid situation to calm down and then I will release more info, but if you are interested in coming with me then please register your interest by dropping me an email on the below contact form, or directly to my email at jay@trekecoadventures.co.uk. Thanks for reading, and it would be a massive help if you shared this blog on your social medias for me.