Slender-billed Vulture

Gyps tenuirostris Gray, GR, 1844

≈99 cmLength229 cmWingspan5.5 kgWeight

This gray vulture has a bare, blackish head and neck and a slender bill.

Busiest months: March · Most records: India, Cambodia, Nepal

Looks like Indian Vulture

Critically Endangered

How to identify

Field marks

Head and neck bare and black; head narrow and angular
Bill narrow and dark, with a pale spot on bill ridge
Ear openings conspicuously exposed; head and neck heavily wrinkled
Body mostly gray, rump paler

Male, female and young

Sexes alike in appearance; juvenile closely resembles adult, except for white down at the rear base of the neck that disappears with age.

Similar species

Indian Vulture

Slender-billed Vulture has a darker head and a more slender bill; Indian Vulture breeds on cliffs, while Slender-billed Vulture nests in trees.

Where and when it's recorded

Slender-billed Vulture has been recorded at 42 of the 8,171 birding hotspots we track, in 4 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

India Cambodia Nepal Myanmar (Burma)

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 slender-billed vulture (Gyps tenuirostris) is an Old World vulture species native to sub-Himalayan regions and Southeast Asia. It is Critically Endangered since 2002 as the population on the Indian subcontinent has declined rapidly. As of 2021, fewer than 870 mature individuals are thought to remain.

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