Description:

An immense vulture with all-downy head, long spiky neck ruff feathers, pinkish legs and feet. Wing-coverts and body pale buffish in adult, contrasting strongly with dark flight feathers and tail, and ruff is buffish. Legs and feet pinkish with dark claws, and has yellowish bill and pale blue cere and facial skin.

Distribution:

Common resident and altitudinal migrant in all the areas of Gilgit-Baltistan. Usually occurs in high mountains, gorges and high-elevation steppes, mostly between 1500-4000m, but down to 900m hills and plains in winters.

Behavior:

Soars and glides over vast areas, searching for carcasses and watching other vultures. Gathers in small numbers at carcasses; these can be devoured very rapidly. At carcasses, dominant over other vultures. Feeds almost exclusively on carrion. Feeding at times can be raucous, with many grunts and hisses, as vultures fight over a place to feed.

Photo Gallery:

Range & Occurrence:

Resident Species

Summer Breeder

Winter Visitor

Passage Migrant

Distribution Map of Himalayan Griffon in Gilgit-Baltistan (Status: )

Seasonal Occurrence of Himalayan Griffon

Resources:

Birds of Pakistan: Helm Field Guides (R. Grimmett & T. Inskipp)
The Birds of Pakistan (T. J. Roberts)
Birds of the Indian Subcontinent (C. Inskipp, R. Grimmett & T. Inskipp)
Birds of South Asia: The Ripley Guide (P. Rasmussen & J. Anderton)
Birds of India: Collins Field Guide (N. Arlott)
Handbook of the Birds of India and Pakistan (S. Ali & S. D. Ripley)
Handbook of the Birds of the World (https://www.hbw.com)
The Clements Checklist of Birds of the World, 6th Edition
iNaturalist BoGB (inaturalist.org/projects/birds-of-gilgit-baltistan)
Birds of Gilgit-Baltistan (http://fb.me/birdsgb)

*Gallery images on this page are shared from flickr.com, and are copyrighted to their respective creators or owners.