Saw my first pair of Egyptian Vultures this year while out cycling near Biescas. Lucky enough to get a couple of good pictures of them strutting around a field.

Seems very early in the season to see them – they migrate to north Africa and the Middle East in the winter. Egyptian vultures specialise on feeding on the placenta form cowbirth and this pair was attracted by a field of cows that were calfing in the next field. Think they are a youngish pair as the black colour hasn’t fully developed on the back half of the wings. They’ve fabulous yellow heads.

Pair of Egyptian Vultures

You see Egyptian vultures (or Alimoche as they are known is Spanish) on the ground a lot more than other vultures as they are relatively small and it’s not such an effort to take off as it is for the huge griffons and lammergeier.

Egyptian vulture at Ibon de Piedrafita

It’s quite easy to see Egyptian vultures in the Pyrenees. Early in the season the Serrablo south of Biescas is a great place to spot them. Here the cows generally give birth before being taken higher in the mountains for the summer. Later in the summer a pair usually nest under the viewpoint in Hoz de Jaca and I also often see a pair at Ibon de Piedrafita.

Young cows - the afterbirth attracts the vultures