Bird Guide

Indian Vulture vs Rüppell's Vulture

Indian Vulture (Gyps indicus)

Indian Vulture

Gyps indicus

Huge5.5 kgGrassland

The Indian vulture is bulky and medium in size. Its body and covert feathers are pale brown with darker flight feathers. It has white thighs with scattered white fluff and broad wings with short tail feathers. It has a small, bare, dark-brown head with a long featherless neck, dark eyes and a long yellowish beak with a pale green-yellow cere. It is 89–103 cm (35–41 in) long and has a wing span of 2.22–2.58 m (7 ft 3 in – 8 ft 6 in). The bald heads allow them to maintain body temperature in response to the environment.

ID text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0

Photo: Yathin sk at English Wikipedia · CC BY 2.5
Rüppell's Vulture (Gyps rueppelli)

Rüppell's Vulture

Gyps rueppelli

Huge7.4 kgGrassland

The Rüppell's vulture is a very large vulture, noticeably outsizing the closely related white-backed vulture, with which they often occur in the wild. Adults are 85 to 103 cm (33 to 41 in) long, with a wingspan of 2.26 to 2.6 m (7 ft 5 in to 8 ft 6 in), and a weight that ranges from 6.4 to 9 kg (14 to 20 lb). Both sexes look alike: mottled brown or black overall with a whitish-brown underbelly and thin, dirty-white fluff covering the head and neck. The base of the neck has a white collar, the eye is yellow or amber, the crop patch deep brown. The head does not have feathers.

ID text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0

Photo: Christoph Moning · CC BY 4.0

Learn this pair in the BeakBrain App

Photo and call practice. Coming soon to iPhone and Android.

Play today's Daily Bird

Photos and recordings are credited to their authors under the licence shown. Full profiles: Indian Vulture and Rüppell's Vulture.