PLEASE! If you see any mistakes, I'm 100% sure that I have wrongly identified some birds.
So please let me know on my guestbook at the bottom of the page
Birdwatching in Middle East


The Egyptian Vulture (Neophron percnopterus), also called the white scavenger vulture or pharaoh's chicken, is a small Old World vulture and the only member of the genus Neophron. It is widely distributed; the Egyptian Vulture is found from southwestern Europe and northern Africa to India.

The contrasting underwing pattern and wedge-shaped tail make it distinctive in flight as it soars in thermals during the warmer parts of the day. Egyptian Vultures feed mainly on carrion but are opportunistic and will prey on small mammals, birds, and reptiles. They also feed on the eggs of other birds, breaking larger ones by tossing a large pebble onto them.

The use of tools is rare in birds and apart from the use of a pebble as a hammer, Egyptian Vultures also use twigs to roll up wool for use in their nest. Egyptian Vultures that breed in the temperate regions migrate south in winter while tropical populations are relatively sedentary.

Populations of this species declined in the 20th century and some island populations are endangered by hunting, accidental poisoning, and collision with power lines.

Distribution and movements
Egyptian Vultures are widely distributed across the Old World with their breeding range from southern Europe to northern Africa east to western and southern Asia. They are rare vagrants in Sri Lanka.

They occur mainly on the dry plains and lower hills. In the Himalayas, they go up to about 2,000 metres in summer. In Armenia, breeding pairs have been found up to 2,300 meters a.s.l. European populations migrate south to Africa in winter. Vagrants may occur as far south as in South Africa although they bred in the Transkei region prior to 1923.

They nest mainly on rocky cliffs, sometimes adopting ledges on tall buildings in cities and on large trees.

Most Egyptian Vultures in the subtropical zone of Europe migrate south to Africa in winter. Like many other large soaring migrants, they avoid making long crossings over water. Italian birds cross over through Sicily and into Tunisia making short sea crossings by passing through the islands of Marettimo and Pantelleria.

Those that migrate through the Iberian Peninsula cross into Africa over the Strait of Gibraltar while others cross further east through the Levant. In summer, some African birds fly further north into Europe and vagrants have been recorded in England and southern Sweden.

Migrating birds can sometimes cover 500 kilometres in a single day until they reach the southern edge of the Sahara, 3,500 to 5,500 kilometres from their summer home. Young birds that have not reached breeding age may overwinter in the grassland and semi-desert regions of the Sahel.

Egyptian Vulture, Neophron percnopterus

Range map
Range map from www.oiseaux.net - Ornithological Portal Oiseaux.net
www.oiseaux.net is one of those MUST visit pages if you're in to bird watching. You can find just about everything there


Taxonomy and systematics
The Egyptian Vulture was first formally described by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in 1758 in the tenth edition of his Systema Naturae under the binomial name Vultur percnopterus. The current genus Neophron contains only a single species.

A few prehistoric species from the Neogene period in North America placed in the genus Neophrontops (the name meaning "looks like Neophron") are believed to have been very similar to these vultures in lifestyle, but the genetic relationships are unclear.

The genus Neophron is considered to represent the oldest branch within the evolutionary tree of vultures. Along with its nearest evolutionary relative, the lammergeier (Gypaetus barbatus), they are sometimes placed in a separate subfamily, the Gypaetinae.

Subspecies
There are three widely recognised subspecies of the Egyptian Vulture, although there is considerable gradation due to movement and intermixing of the populations. The nominate subspecies, N. p. percnopterus, has the largest range, occurring in southern Europe, northern Africa, the Middle East, Central Asia, and the north-west of India. Populations breeding in the temperate zone migrate south during winter. It has a dark grey bill.

The Indian subcontinent is the range of subspecies N. p. ginginianus, the smallest of the three subspecies, which is identifiable by a pale yellow bill. The subspecies name is derived from Gingee in southern India where the French explorer Pierre Sonnerat described it as Le Vautour de Gingi and it was given a Latin name by John Latham in his Index Ornithologicus (1790).

A small population that is found only in the eastern Canary Islands was found to be genetically distinct and identified as a new subspecies, N. p. majorensis in 2002. Known locally as the guirre they are genetically more distant from N. p. percnopterus, significantly greater even than N. p. ginginianus is from N. p. percnopterus.

Unlike neighbouring populations in Africa and southern Europe, it is non-migratory and consistently larger in size. The subspecies name majorensis is derived from "Majorata", the ancient name for the island of Fuerteventura. The island was named by Spanish conquerors in the 15th century after the "Majos", the main native Guanche tribe there.

One study in 2010 suggested that the species established on the island about 2,500 years ago when the island was first colonized by humans.

Nikolai Zarudny and Härms described a subspecies, rubripersonatus, from Baluchistan in 1902. This was described as having a deeper reddish orange skin on the head and a yellow-tipped dark bill. This has rarely been considered a valid subspecies but the intermediate pattern of bill colouration suggests intermixing of subspecies.

Egyptian Vulture, Neophron percnopterus
Distribution of the three subspecies - Click HERE for bigger map
By L. Shyamal - Own work based on IUCN map, Rasmussen & Anderton (2005) Birds of South Asia and Kretzmann MB;
N. Capote; B. Gautschi; J.A. Godoy; J.A. Donázar & J.J. Negro (2003).
"Genetically distinct island populations of the Egyptian Vulture (Neophron percnopterus)". Conservation Genetics 4 (6): 697-706.
Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=11137787


Etymology
The genus name is derived from Greek mythology. Timandra was the mother of Neophron. Aegypius was a friend of Neophron and about the same age. It upset Neophron to know that his mother Timandra was having a love affair with Aegypius. Seeking revenge, Neophron made advances towards Aegypius' mother, Bulis.

Neophron succeeded and enticed Bulis into entering the dark chamber where his mother and Aegypius were to meet soon. Neophron then distracted his mother, tricking Aegypius into entering the chamber and sleeping with his own mother Bulis. When Bulis discovered the deception she gouged out the eyes of her son Aegypius before killing herself.

Aegypius prayed for revenge and Zeus, on hearing the prayer, changed Aegypius and Neophron into vultures. "Percnopterus" is derived from Greek for "black wings": "περκνóς" (perknos, meaning "blue-black") and πτερόν (pteron, meaning wing).

Egyptian Vulture, Neophron percnopterus
Immature (behind) and adult (from John Gould's Birds of Europe)
By John Gould - John Gould: "Birds of Europe", vol. 1 pl. 3, Public Domain,
https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=2386764


Description
The adult's plumage is white, with black flight feathers in the wings. Wild birds usually appear soiled with a rusty or brown shade to the white plumage, derived from mud or iron-rich soil. Captive specimens without access to soil have clean white plumage.

It has been suggested as a case of cosmetic colouration. The bill is slender and long, and the tip of the upper mandible is hooked. The nostril is an elongated horizontal slit. The neck feathers are long and form a hackle. The wings are pointed, with the third primary being the longest; the tail is wedge shaped.

The legs are pink in adults and grey in juveniles. The claws are long and straight, and the third and fourth toes are slightly webbed at the base.

The bill is black in the nominate subspecies but pale or yellowish in adults of the smaller Indian ginginianus. Rasmussen and Anderton (2005) suggest that this variation may need further study, particularly due to the intermediate black-tipped bill described in rubripersonatus.

The facial skin is yellow and unfeathered down to the throat. The sexes are indistinguishable in plumage but breeding males have a deeper orange facial skin colour than females. Females average slightly larger and are about 10–15% heavier than males.

Young birds are blackish or chocolate brown with black and white patches. The adult plumage is attained only after about five years.

The adult Egyptian Vulture measures 47–65 centimetres from the point of the beak to the extremity of the tail feathers. In the smaller N. p. ginginianus males are about 47–52 centimetres long while females are 52–55.5 centimetres long.

The wingspan is about 2.7 times the body length. Birds from Spain weigh about 1.9 kilograms while birds of the Canary Island subspecies majorensis, representing a case of island gigantism, are heavier with an average weight of 2.4 kilograms.

Length: 47-65 cm
Wingspan: 146-175 cm
Weight: 1600-2200 g
Longevity: 37 Years
Distinctive Feature
Yellew face
Similar Species
-


Listen to the Egyptian Vulture

Remarks from the Recordist

chick on the nest during feeding


www.xeno-canto.org


Behaviour and ecology
The Egyptian Vulture is usually seen singly or in pairs, soaring in thermals along with other scavengers and birds of prey, or perched on the ground or atop a building. On the ground, they walk with a waddling gait. They feed on a range of food, including mammal faeces (including those of humans), insects in dung, carrion, vegetable matter, and sometimes small animals.

When it joins other vulture species at a dead animal, it tends to stay on the periphery and waits until the larger species leave. Wild rabbits (Oryctolagus cuniculus) form a significant part of the diet of Spanish vultures. In the Iberian Peninsula, landfills are an important food source, with the vultures more likely to occupy territories close to landfill sites.

Studies suggest that they feed on ungulate faeces to obtain carotenoid pigments responsible for their bright yellow and orange facial skin. The ability to assimilate carotenoid pigments may serve as a reliable signal of fitness.

Egyptian Vultures are mostly silent but make high-pitched mewing or hissing notes at the nest and screeching noises when squabbling at a carcass. Young birds have been heard making a hissing croak in flight. They also hiss or growl when threatened or angry.

Egyptian Vultures roost communally on large trees, buildings or on cliffs. Roost sites are usually chosen close to a dump site or other suitable foraging area. In Spain and Morocco, summer roosts are formed mainly by immature birds. The favourite roost trees tended to be large dead pines.

The number of adults at the roost increases towards June. It is thought that breeding adults may be able to forage more efficiently by joining the roost and following others to the best feeding areas. Breeding birds that failed to raise young may also join the non-breeding birds at the roost during June.

Breeding
The breeding season is in spring. During the beginning of the breeding season, courting pairs soar high together and one or both may make steep spiralling or swooping dives. The birds are monogamous and pair bonds may be maintained for more than one breeding season and the same nest sites may be reused each year.

The nest is an untidy platform of twigs lined with rags and placed on a cliff ledge, building, or the fork of a large tree. Old nest platforms of eagles may also be taken over. Nests placed on the ground are rare but have been recorded in subspecies N. p. ginginianus and N. p. majorensis.

Extra-pair copulation with neighbouring birds has been recorded and may be a reason for adult males to stay close to the female before and during the egg laying period. Females may sometimes associate with two males and all three help in raising the brood.

The typical clutch consists of two eggs which are incubated in turns by both parents. The eggs are brick red with the broad end covered more densely with blotches of red, brown, and black. The parents begin incubating soon after the first egg is laid leading to asynchronous hatching.

The first egg hatches after about 42 days. The second chick may hatch three to five days later and a longer delay increases the likelihood that it will die of starvation. In cliffs where the nests are located close to each other, young birds have been known to clamber over to neighbouring nests to obtain food.

Egyptian Vulture, Neophron percnopterus
Egg from Museum Wiesbaden collection
By Klaus Rassinger und Gerhard Cammerer, Museum Wiesbaden - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0,
https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=38047945


In the Spanish population, young fledge and leave the nest after 90 to 110 days. Fledged birds continue to remain dependent on their parents for at least a month.

Once the birds begin to forage on their own, they move away from their parents' territory; young birds have been found nearly 500 km away from their nest site. One-year-old European birds migrate to Africa and stay there for at least one year. A vulture that fledged in France stayed in Africa for three years before migrating north in spring.

After migrating back to their breeding areas, young birds move widely in search of good feeding territories and mates. The full adult plumage is attained in the fourth or fifth year. Egyptian Vultures have been known to live for up to 37 years in captivity and at least 21 years in the wild.

The probability of survival in the wild varies with age, increasing till the age of 2 and then falling at the age of 5. Older birds have an annual survival probability varying from 0.75 for non-breeders to 0.83 for breeding birds.

Tool use
The nominate population, especially in Africa, is known for its use of stones as tools. When a large egg, such as that of an ostrich or bustard, is located, the bird walks up to it with a large pebble held in its bill and tosses the pebble by swinging the neck down over the egg. The operation is repeated until the egg cracks from the blows.

They prefer using rounded pebbles to jagged rocks. This behaviour, although it was believed that it was first reported by Jane Goodall in 1966, it was actually already known to Africans and was first reported by J. G. Wood in 1877. However, this has only been reported in Africa and has not been recorded in N. p. ginginianus.

Tests with both hand-reared and wild birds suggest that the behaviour is innate, not learnt by observing other birds, and displayed once they associate eggs with food and have access to pebbles. Another case of tool-use described from Bulgaria involves the use of a twig as a tool to roll up and gather strands of wool to use for lining the nest.

In culture

Biblical
The Bible makes a reference to the Egyptian Vulture under the Hebrew name of rachamah/racham which has been translated into English as "gier-eagle".

British
British naturalists in colonial considered them to be among the ugliest birds, and their habit of feeding on faeces was particularly despised.

Egyptian
Egyptian Vulture, Neophron percnopterusIn Ancient Egypt, the vulture hieroglyph was the uniliteral sign used for the glottal sound (/ɑː/).

The bird was held sacred to Isis in ancient Egyptian religion. The use of the vulture as a symbol of royalty in Egyptian culture and their protection by Pharaonic law made the species common on the streets of Egypt and gave rise to the name "pharaoh's chicken".

Vultures are associated with Egyptian goddesses Mut and Nekhbet because they act as protectors of the living and consumers of the dead.

Indian
A southern Indian temple at Thirukalukundram near Chengalpattu was famed for a pair of birds that reputedly visited the temple for "centuries". These birds were ceremonially fed by the temple priests and arrived before noon to feed on offerings made from rice, wheat, ghee, and sugar.

Although normally punctual, the failure of the birds to turn up was attributed to the presence of "sinners" among the onlookers. Legend has it the vultures (or "eagles") represented eight sages who were punished by Shiva, with two of them leaving in each of a series of epochs.

Egyptian Vulture, Neophron percnopterus
The "sacred pair" at Thirukalukundram in 1906
By Edgar Thurston, Madras Government, India - Ethnographic notes in Southern India, Public Domain,
https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=10954907

Spanish
The habit of coprophagy in Egyptian Vultures gives them the Spanish names of "churretero" and "moñiguero", which mean "dung-eater".

Greece
Like Ancient Egyptians, Greeks also revered the vulture as a symbol of life and death. In one case, "the Greek army physician Dioscurides thought vulture excrement capable of producing abortions.

Conservation status
Egyptian Vulture, Neophron percnopterus
Endangered (IUCN 3.1)
IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. IUCN. 2014: e.T22695180A62656914. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2014-2.RLTS.T22695180A62656914.en.



From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

www.birdforum.net


Sighted: (Date of first photo that I could use) 27 November 2018
Location: On highway #17 between Muscat and Bimmah Sinkhole, Oman


Egyptian Vulture, Neophron percnopterus
Egyptian Vulture
Beach road between Bimmah Sinkhole and Ras AlShajer Nature Reserve, Oman - 27 November 2018

Egyptian Vulture, Neophron percnopterus
Egyptian Vulture
Beach road between Bimmah Sinkhole and Ras AlShajer Nature Reserve, Oman - 27 November 2018

Egyptian Vulture, Neophron percnopterus
Egyptian Vulture
Beach road between Bimmah Sinkhole and Ras AlShajer Nature Reserve, Oman - 27 November 2018

Egyptian Vulture, Neophron percnopterus
Egyptian Vulture
Beach road between Bimmah Sinkhole and Ras AlShajer Nature Reserve, Oman - 27 November 2018

Egyptian Vulture, Neophron percnopterus
Egyptian Vulture
Beach road between Bimmah Sinkhole and Ras AlShajer Nature Reserve, Oman - 27 November 2018

Egyptian Vulture, Neophron percnopterus
Egyptian Vulture
Beach road between Bimmah Sinkhole and Ras AlShajer Nature Reserve, Oman - 27 November 2018

Egyptian Vulture, Neophron percnopterus
Egyptian Vulture - Jebel Hafeet in Abu Dhabi, UAE - 1 December 2018

Egyptian Vulture, Neophron percnopterus
Egyptian Vulture - Jebel Hafeet in Abu Dhabi, UAE - 1 December 2018



PLEASE! If I have made any mistakes identifying any bird, PLEASE let me know on my guestbook



       
                  



                                       

You are visitor no.
To www.aladdin.st since December 2005

Visitors from different countries since 26th of September 2011