A Scavanger in Flight

An account of how I witnessed a vanishing story, in flight, gently between survival and silence.

red-headed vulture

This is a Red-headed Vulture, critically endangered on the IUCN list.

I clicked this near Ranikhet, though not exactly Ranikhet, but in between the road from Almora to Ranikhet.

I was going from Almora to Ranikhet just for this bird, as this vulture was spotted by many people in Ranikhet. While halfway there (I was on my Bike), I stopped for a quick rest and water break. That place was very quiet and peaceful, and I spotted this Vulture sitting in a tree. I spent around 1 to 1.5 hours observing its behaviour and taking many photos. There were a total of 3 types of vulture species present at that point, since that place was at a high altitude, so vultures prefer those places to sit and fly around to spot food.

This bird is very rare, critically endangered, and numbers are decreasing.

THE GOODDAY POST

CREDITS

Madhur Upadhayay

Madhur Upadhayay

Author

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