Egyptian Vulture

Neophron percnopterus (Linnaeus, 1758)

85 cmLength168 cmWingspan2.1 kgWeight

The adult has a white body, black flight feathers, a yellow face and a wedge-shaped tail.

Busiest months: September · Most records: Spain, India, United Arab Emirates

Endangered

How to identify

Field marks

Adult feathers white, flight feathers black
Face skin yellow
Tail wedge-shaped
Bill slender, upper mandible hooked at tip

Male, female and young

Sexes alike in plumage; breeding male has deeper orange face skin; juvenile blackish or chocolate-brown with black and white patches, acquiring adult plumage at about five years.

Voice

Usually quiet; gives high-pitched calls when disturbed.

Where and when it's recorded

Busiest months: September · Most records: Spain, India, United Arab Emirates

Egyptian Vulture has been recorded at 458 of the 8,276 birding hotspots we track, in 57 countries and regions.

Records by month Northern Hemisphere

To protect this bird from disturbance, we don't list exact sites.

Countries and regions with the most records

Spain India United Arab Emirates Portugal Ethiopia Nepal Egypt Israel

eBird records via GBIF up to 2024-12-31. A record means someone listed it; more records partly mean more birders, not more birds.

About

The Egyptian vulture (Neophron percnopterus), also called the white scavenger vulture or pharaoh's chicken, is a small, Old World vulture in the monotypic genus Neophron. It is widely distributed from the Iberian Peninsula and North Africa to West Asia and India. The contrasting underwing pattern and wedge-shaped tail make it distinctive in flight, as it soars in thermals during the warmer parts of the day.

Excerpt from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0 · authors · Read more on Wikipedia

Questions

How big is the Egyptian Vulture?

The Egyptian Vulture is about 85 cm long, with a wingspan of 168 cm and weighs around 2.1 kg.

Where does the Egyptian Vulture live?

Its breeding range: Africa, Palearctic, Oriental: western Africa to India, southern Spain to Central Asia. It is most often recorded in Spain, India and United Arab Emirates.