Cinereous Vulture

Cinereous Vulture
This species is defined as a Review Species . Please submit your records of this species via our record submission page .

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: Vagrant

Conservation Status: Near Threatened (BirdLife International 2021)

Past records in our database:

Showing only accepted records. Note that records currently under review are also not displayed, and the list may not be a full list of records of this species in Singapore. For more details, check the database here.

Migrant bar chart (see more bar charts):

Cinereous Vulture Aegypius monachus
Average number of individuals by week based on Singapore Bird Database data, Jul 2014 to Jun 2024 (all records)
Peak week Dec 24-Dec 30
Early date 29 Dec 2021
Late date 30 Dec 2021
An extraordinary record of a single bird together with Himalayan Vultures was one of the highlights of the 2021-22 migratory season.
Cinereous Vulture at Singapore Botanic Gardens. Photo credit: Francis Yap
Cinereous Vulture at Singapore Botanic Gardens. Photo credit: Francis Yap
Cinereous Vulture at Singapore Botanic Gardens. Photo credit: Francis Yap
Cinereous Vulture at Singapore Botanic Gardens. Photo credit: Francis Yap
Cinereous Vulture at Singapore Botanic Gardens. Photo credit: Francis Yap
Cinereous Vulture at Singapore Botanic Gardens. Photo credit: Francis Yap
Cinereous Vulture at Singapore Botanic Gardens. Photo credit: Francis Yap

External Links:

Conservation Status: IUCN Red List Page

Sound Recordings: xeno-canto Link

Wikipedia Entry: Wikipedia Link

eBird Species page: eBird (Cinereous Vulture)

References:

BirdLife International. (2021). Aegypius monachus. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2021. https://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2021-3.RLTS.T22695231A154915043.en. Accessed on 1 January 2023

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.

RECOMMENDED CITATION

Bird Society of Singapore. (n.d.). Cinereous Vulture. Retrieved on July 20, 2025 from https://singaporebirds.com/species/cinereous-vulture.

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