Pic taken and narrated in the first person by avid wildlife photographer and IndianRoadie fan, Mukul Mukherjee at Chakouri in June 2019.
I was driving past Chakouri in Uttarakhand and suddenly saw this big bird just infront of us at the edge of the road was feasting on a bird.
I suddenly stopped my car and my camera was all ready. I somehow parked the car on my left side giving ample space to other passing by vehicles. Instead of getting down I thought to click from my driver's seat because if it get disturbed then it may fly. Hardly got few shots and it opended it wingspan which was really huge and went away with the kill.
The bearded vulture also known as the lammergeier is a bird of prey and the only member of the genus Gypaetus. The bearded vulture is the only known vertebrate whose diet consists almost exclusively (70 to 90 percent) of bone. It lives and breeds on crags in high mountains in southern Europe, the Caucasus, Africa, the Indian subcontinent, and Tibet, laying one or two eggs in mid-winter that hatch at the beginning of spring. Populations are residents. The population of this species continues to decline. Until July 2014, it was classified by the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species as being of Least Concern; it has, however, since been reassessed as Near Threatened.
This species is almost entirely associated with mountains and inselbergs with plentiful cliffs, crags, precipices, canyons and gorges. They are often found near alpine pastures and meadows, montane grassland and heath, steep-sided, rocky wadis, high steppe and are occasional around forests. They seem to prefer desolate, lightly-populated areas where predators who provide many bones, such as wolves and golden eagles, have healthy populations.
This bird is 94–125 cm (37–49 in) long with a wingspan of 2.31–2.83 m (7.6–9.3 ft). It weighs 4.5–7.8 kg (9.9–17.2 lb), with the nominate race averaging 6.21 kg (13.7 lb)
Unlike most vultures, the bearded vulture does not have a bald head. This species is relatively small headed, although its neck is powerful and thick. It has a generally elongated, slender shape, sometimes appearing bulkier due to the often hunched back of these birds. The gait on the ground is waddling and the feet are large and powerful.
F 5.6, 1/1000, 240 mm at ISO 400.
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