Himalayan vulture sighted in Nilgiris

Chennai: The last thing N Raveendran, a Madurai-based naturalist, expected to see when he participated in the vulture census in the forests of the Nilgiris was a Himalayan griffon vulture.

He sent a photograph he took of the juvenile specimen to experts, who confirmed that the bird was indeed a Himalayan griffon vulture ( Gyps himalayensis).

Association for Conservation of Indian Raptors secretary S Chandrasekar said Raveendran's sighting was only the second on record of the species in the Nilgiris. A birdwatcher spotted the earlier specimen in Sathyamangalam Tiger Reserve two years ago. Young birds stay with their parents for six to seven months after which they're obliged to go out on their own, learn to forage and survive to adulthood. They return as adults to flocks to nest and breed.


They weigh an average of 9kg as adults and have a wingspan of 10ft and sometimes more.

The native terrain of the species, one of the two largest Old World vultures, is the Himalayas and adjoining Tibet, but ornithologists have recorded them as far away as Myanmar, Singapore and Indonesia.