Bird Guide

Rüppell's Vulture vs White-rumped Vulture

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
White-rumped Vulture (Gyps bengalensis)

White-rumped Vulture

Gyps bengalensis

Huge4.4 kgGrassland

The white-rumped vulture is the smallest of the Gyps vultures, but is still a very large bird. It weighs 3.5–7.5 kg (7.7–16.5 lb), measures 75–93 cm (30–37 in) in length, and has a wingspan of 1.92–2.6 m (6.3–8.5 ft). It has an unfeathered head and neck, very broad wings, and short tail feathers. It is much smaller than the Eurasian Griffon. It has a white neck ruff. The adult's whitish back, rump, and underwing coverts contrast with the otherwise dark plumage. The body is black and the secondaries are silvery grey. The head is tinged in pink and bill is silvery with dark ceres.

ID text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0

Photo: Kesava G. · CC0

Where you might meet both

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