This is the bearded vulture, Gypaetus barbatus.

The bearded vulture is a mostly silent bird, occasionally emitting a faint whistle as a contact call, or a shriller sound during breeding displays.
It is up to 125 cm long, with a wingspan of 2.8 meters. It is unmistakable, with black sideburns that start around the eyes going downwards towards the bill, continuing in a tuft of black feathers under the beak in the shape of a beard. It has red rings around the eyes and a long, wedge- shaped tail. Bearded vultures have black facial markings and black wings. It is unusual amongst vultures in that its neck is feathered. The head, neck and body are naturally white, but it has been observed to dye these feathers by bathing in soil or muddy water.

Deep, rusty red – from iron-rich earth – is the preferred colour. They are the only birds to exhibit such behaviour, and the reason is unknown, but it is thought that iron oxide in the soil may a natural anti-bacterial action. Or perhaps, the markings denote status, as older bearded vultures generally apply more of the colouration than younger birds.

During breeding, multiple eggs are laid, but chicks will compete aggressively until just one survives. It can take 2 years to become independent, meaning many pairs will only produce a single chick, on alternate years. Polyandry has also been recorded, with two males assisting a single female in rearing the young.

Bearded vultures are the only known vertebrates to have a diet consisting almost exclusively of bone – up to 90% of its caloric intake. They will even actively avoid eating meat, and have a preference for dry, aged limb and rib bones up to several months old, although they can also be digested fresh. Smaller bones are eaten whole, while larger ones are either hammered with their strong beaks, or dropped from heights of up to 150 meters, in order to crack them into manageable pieces. Highly concentrated acids in their stomachs then dissolve these fragments. By weight, dry bone has a slightly lower energy content than meat, but remains in an edible state up to 10 times longer. Other large scavenger species must compete with fast-acting insects and bacteria, but the bearded vulture can return multiple times to a carcass, many months after the animal’s death. Therefore, very little available food is wasted. The presence of hunting animals such as wolves and eagles in the habitat is important to provide an adequate supply of bones.

They, themselves, rarely hunt. One exception to this is their taste for turtles, which they sometimes catch and drop from great heights, smashing the turtles’ shells on hard rock. It is said the classical playwright Aeschylus was killed by a falling turtle dropped by a bearded vulture, who mistook his bald head for a stone.

In his time, the bearded vulture, or “ossifrage”, was one of the few birds whose calls and flight patterns could be used to interpret divine messages.

By the early 19th century the bearded vulture was extinct in Aeschylus’ homeland. It was intensively demonised by mountain-dwellers - it was wrongly thought to prey on livestock and small children – and was intentionally shot or poisoned. In some parts, there was even a bounty for each bird killed. Previously a common sight in southern European mountainous regions, it disappeared completely from the Alps as well as the Carpathian Mountains, with only a small population remaining in the Pyrenees in the early 20th century.

In 1978, bearded vulture experts decided on a method of reintroduction – to take young, captive- bred birds to a semi-wild environment, and support them with supplemental food until capable of living independently. The first release of this kind took place in 1986. It was a success, and the experiment was repeated in subsequent years. By 2015, 204 bearded vultures had been released into the Alps in this way, and 148 wild young had been raised by captive-born parents. These individuals are tracked, and reports have come from the Carpathians and other mountainous habitats in Europe that members of the Alpine population are once again flying over the bird’s old territories.

However, despite this successful reintroduction program in the European Alps, the overall trend for the species is still one of decline. The bearded vulture faces threats including collisions with powerlines and wind turbines, a lack of suitable bones for food due to changed agricultural practices, and unintentional poisoning from veterinary drugs such as diclofenac and antibiotics. Even within the European population, which receives supplemental feeding and is monitored closely, there are reports of deaths from power line impacts, and failed eggs have been shown to contain high levels of agricultural chemicals.

Due to the bearded vulture’s low rate of reproduction, it is particularly vulnerable to these threats. Studies have suggested that even with a minor but sustained degree of human-induced mortality, extinction of the species is inevitable within several decades. Given the bird’s already low population density and fragmentation within its range, the future of the bearded vulture is by no means secure.