Only 9 Species of Vultures Found in India

Nine species of vulture can be found living in India and these species of raptor are in danger of extinction because of diclofenac drug and habitat loss. Gyps species of vultures are birds of prey mainly found in Himalayas, Rajasthan, Gange Plate and north side of Indian Subcontinent.

Griffon Vulture (Gyps Fulvus)

Griffon vulture also known as the Eurasian griffon is one of the large bird of prey. The Griffon vultures are old world vultures and were made extinct at some point of time.

Indian Vulture (Gyps Indicus)

Indian vulture smaller and less heavily built vulture species breeds mainly on cliffs or human-made structures. The species feeds mostly from carcasses of dead animals and reached up to the verge of extinction because of veterinary drug diclofenac.

Himalayan Vulture (Gyps Himalayensis)

Himalayan griffon vulture is one of the two largest old world vultures and a true raptor, found along the Himalayas in India. This huge bird of prey is the largest and heaviest bird found in the Himalayas of Indian Subcontinent.

Bearded Vulture (Gypaetus Barbatus)

Bearded vulture also known as the lammergeier is the only member of the genus Gypaetus, found through the mountainous regions of Himalayas, Ladakh in north India and also distributed from Arunachal Pradesh of India subcontinent. Image Source – ebird.org

Slender-billed Vulture (Gyps Tenuirostris)

Slender-Billed Vulture is one of the critically endangered species of old world vulture found along the Sub-Himalayan regions of Indian Subcontinent. It has suffered an extremely rapid population decline, particularly across the India.

White-rumped Vulture (Gyps Bengalensis)

White-Rumped Vulture is a medium-sized vulture and one of the most abundant large bird of prey in the world. This is the smallest of the Gyps vultures found in India and the most common vulture found in immense numbers all over the country.

Cinereous Vulture (Aegypius Monachus)

Cinereous vulture is the largest raptor bird found in India and the member of the family Accipitridae. The cinereous vulture is believed to be the largest true bird of prey in the world, found in northern India and Thar desert of Rajasthan – Image source: conservationindia

Egyptian Vulture (Neophron Percnopterus)

Egyptian vulture is widely distributed species of small old world vulture found in the north-west part of India. There are three widely-recognised subspecies of Egyptian vulture found in Indian subcontinent.

Red-headed Vulture (Sarcogyps Calvus)

Red-headed Vulture is also known as Indian Black Vulture found only in the Indian Subcontinent. This medium sized vulture has no subspecies found in deciduous forests and foothills and river valleys.

American black vulture spotted in Gurugram at Chandu, As this is rarest of rare sighting because the American black vulture is not found in Asia. Black vultures are found only in parts of South and North America.