Scientific Name: Aegypius monachus
Malay Name: Hering Hitam
Chinese Name: 秃鹫
Range:
Large contiguous breeding range across the Himalayas to Mongolia and North-east China. Winters mainly in Northern India and Middle East, small numbers in Korea. Also some disjunct breeding population towards France. Vagrant to Southeast Asia.
Taxonomy:
Monotypic.
Size: 100-120cm
Identification:
Large, sooty vulture, with hefty bi-coloured bill and wedge-shaped tail. Head has dark down feathers with blueish-grey patches of bare skin. Juveniles have blacker plumage, with bare skin pinkish instead of blueish-grey. Told apart from Himalayan Vulture by darker plumage, larger bill, and presence of dark down feathers on head.
Similar looking species: Himalayan Vulture
Habitat: Hill/mountain forests, scrub, meadows and grasslands.
Behaviour/Ecology: Feeds on carrion, likely to hunt mainly by vision.
Local Status: Probable vagrant
Past accepted records in our database:
Photos:
External Links:
Conservation Status: IUCN Red List Page ↗
Photos: Oriental Bird Images ↗
Sound Recordings: xeno-canto Link ↗
Wikipedia Entry: Wikipedia Link ↗
eBird Species page: eBird (Cinereous Vulture) ↗
References:
Meyburg, B.-U, Christie, D. A., Kirwan, G. M., & Marks, J. S. (2020). Cinereous Vulture (Aegypius monachus), version 1.0. In del Hoyo, J., Elliott, A., Sargatal, J., Christie, D. A., & de Juana, E. (Eds.), Birds of the World. Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. https://doi.org/10.2173/bow.cinvul1.01 ↗
Robson, C. (2014). Field guide to the birds of South-East Asia (Second Edition). Bloomsbury Publishing, London.