Hooray for the Lammergeier

(Picture source: Wikimedia Commons, Author: Richard Bartz)


This is Gypaetus barbatus, commonly the bearded vulture or the lammergeier. One of my greatest wishes during my Ladakh trip was to see this humongous bird, but that wish remained unfulfilled. This is because the lammergeier, like other vulture species has had a sharp population decline.

However, there is hope that populations of the lammergeier (a better name than bearded vulture) are recovering, as a report (1,2) from Spiti indicates.

Hooray! I hope it becomes common enough that amateurs like me can sight it again.