Griffon Vulture
Griffon Vulture (Gyps fulvus) is a rare breeding migratory bird. It lives in low rocky mountains (1100-1200 m) with xerophytic vegetation. It nests in mountainous areas: rock niches, shelves, small caves. There are 80,000-900,000 sexually mature individuals in the world, the number in Kazakhstan is probably several dozen pairs.
Appearance
Sexual dimorphism in size and coloration is not pronounced. In adult birds, the head and neck are covered with short white down, on the sides in front at the base of the neck, bare skin areas are bluish-gray; the collar is made of thick short down, white, the upper side is clay-brown, with a silvery coating, the tail is in light spots (but not white), the bottom is darker than the top, reddish-brown, with light trunk spots; goiter brownish, flight and tail feathers blackish-brown. The tail is somewhat rounded. The beak is horny, yellowish, the wax is blackish, the legs are gray. The iris is yellowish-brown. The wing is wide, and the secondary flight feathers are almost the same length as the primary ones. The young are darker in their nest plumage than the adults. The head and neck are covered with whitish down, the top and bottom are brownish-brown, with light narrow trunk spots, there is a brown spot on the crop, the tail and flight feathers are black, the collar is formed by long pointed reddish-brown feathers with light trunks (kz.birding.day).
Species distribution
It breeds in xerophytic rocky mountains – in the Chu-Ili Mountains and in Karatau, where there are several colonies. A new colony of about 20 pairs was discovered in 2002 near the village of Chulak Kurgan. It is found almost everywhere on nomads, including in Naurzum, Central Kazakhstan, Southern Ustyurt, Betpak-Dal, Saur and Southern Altai. The details of the nomadic geography are unknown (kz.birding.day).
Threats
- Habitat loss;
- Poisoning from nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs used in veterinary medicine;
- Death from an electric shock on overhead power lines (OPL) with a capacity of 6-10 kV.
- Death by collision with the blades of wind turbines with a horizontal axis of rotation.
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