Egyptian vulture & Northern wheatears

Egyptian vulture seen near Piedrafita

Saw my first Egyptian vulture of the year while out walking near the village of Piedrafita today. There very distictive with their black and white wings, yellow head a diamond shaped tail.

These vultures migrate from northern Africa and the Middle East at the beginning of each summer and are a fairly common site in the Pyrenees.

They’re not huge – about the size of a red kite and look tiny when seen against the huge griffons. They have the unsavoury habit of feeding on the afterbirth of cattle and throughout early summer whenever you see young calfs on the hills or in the fields you’ll find Egyptian vultures closeby.

On the same walk came across lots of northen wheatear’s too – another migratory bird just arrived in the Pyrenees for the summer.

Northern Wheatear - a summer visitor to the Pyrenees