TomKal foto

Less than a 3-meter wingspan, a weight that might exceed 12 kg. A powerful, magnificent bird. Cinereous vultures were very skittish and they would sit  on the left side of the hide, at quite a long distance, observing the hide and its vicinity for hours. They would become more courageous with each day, making the distance shorter, and allowing for better photos at the same time.  Of course, vultures are vultures and they feed on carrion. The carrion was initially used by other animals as well, but it was to be hidden for the night. Its purpose was to be used solely as a bait for birds which fed during the day.  Unfortunately the organizer of the workshop, trying to take the carrion from in front of the hide, had to change his plans in this regard as two bears had just started dining on the left carrion and they didn’t look like they were going to change their plans as to the meat. We did not see it ourselves but next morning when the dawn broke we could see the remains left after the bears’ feast. So our bait, although much reduced, still fulfilled its role, as vultures appeared. Fortunately, the vultures, which were becoming more and more trusting, approached us so closely several times that a 600 mm lens showed only the bird’s silhouette, and during the bird’s take off its wings did not fit within the frame. This made photographing the bird very difficult, as on one occasion the bird was one meter tall, on another occasion it had a 3-meter  wingspan. When it was sitting and observing us from a large distance, we lacked focal length to take a photo. When it flew in front of the hide however, it was good to have a 300 mm lens. I do not recommend changing anything while taking pictures as it might mean the end of photographing, at least on that day. All the birds were very skittish and careful, and every change, every movement made the sky black with ravens and magpies, and such a break in photographing could last several hours. Vultures would fly over the hide many times absorbed in observing what was going on near the carrion, with their heads facing down. Their flight was at a very low height, so I did not have problems with taking photos. Naturally the pictures with a blue-sky background are not my favorites, but I have added a few such photos as well, in order to show the beauty of this giant bird gliding.   I uploaded also some pictures of a vulture with a magpie or a raven to stress the difference in size between the vulture and other species, and capture the grandeur of this bird. Magpies and ravens were near vultures all the time, no matter if they were sitting on the ground or gliding in the sky. Unfortunately cinereous vultures belong to rare species and their number in the whole world is around 1000 pairs.
Last minute news - 06/2016 -Mongolia
I can say that most of the time we saw vultures of this species. In Mongolia they live all year round. They are the smallest among vultures which can be seen in Mongolia. Sometimes from the car, in the steppe we could see 8 birds feeding on dead prey. The location of steppe eagles’ nests was interesting. On the territory where there are no trees or in inaccessible places in the mountains, vultures built their massive nests on small ledges. Although the access to such a nest is difficult after walking a dozen or so meters on a rocky slope you could reach the nest from its right or left side. The whole rock ledge was a dozen or so meters high and was a bulge on the boundless plains. We saw 5 such nests. So many pictures were taken that I remodeled the gallery of the cinereous vulture on my website.
Last minute news - 09/2017
Cinereous vulture in Spain must be a rarity. There were many griffon vultures but only two cinereous vultures  appeared among them. But my third encounter with them, and actually there were a few, can be assessed as quite successful, because I took  several dynamic shots of the vulture on the fly, which are my favorable. The gallery has been rebuilt, varied and goes to the news.

Link to the slide show - Vultures - click here