Griffon Vultures

The Griffon Vultures or Eurasian Griffon Vulture (Gyps fulvus) is a large Old World vulture in the bird of prey family Accipitridae, and the second largest bird in Europe. For more information, see our guide on birds.

Griffon Vultures may form loose colonies. The population is mostly resident.

Description

The Griffon Vulture is 93–110 cm (37–43 in) long with a 230–269 cm (91–106 in) wingspan, and it weighs between 6 and 13 kg (13.2 and 29 lb).

Hatched naked, it is a typical Old World vulture in appearance, with a white bald head, very broad wings, and short tail feathers. It has a white neck ruff and a yellow bill. The buff body and wing coverts contrast with the dark flight feathers.

Food and Feeding Behaviour

The Chilean Flicker’s ground-oriented feeding behaviour is one of its most striking traits. It is more like anteaters rather than the classic woodpeckers that peck at trees. It retains woodpecker anatomies (strong bill and tongue adaptation), but its daily foraging occurs on the ground. In some areas, it eats (adults (including larvae and pupae), as well as larvae).  It is often seen hopping on soil, leaf litter or sweeping away debris. It may also probe into soft ground, weak logs or dig shallow pits to search for ant colonies or other insects.

The Chilean Flicker rarely forages in deep wood, unlike many other woodpeckers who cling to trees and peel bark. The Chilean Flicker will occasionally investigate stumps and fallen logs. Its primary foraging area is the ground or low vegetation around cover, where ants are plentiful. It will also eat other arthropods, such as beetle larvae, insects in the soil that have been disturbed, and soft-bodied invertebrates. It may occasionally use its bill for piercing or probing wood or bark to find larvae. However, this is only a small part of its diet.

It will stay close to trees and shrubs if it feels threatened, as much of the feeding occurs on the ground. It prefers to forage in open terrain near scattered brush or vegetation rather than large open areas. Families (post-breeding) and even pairs (outside of breeding)  often feed together.

Ants are abundant and rich in nutrients, so they make a good food source. Its niche-specificity allows it to exploit a niche that is less exploited by other woodpeckers within its range. Foraging intensity and movement may be affected by seasonal fluctuations in the availability of ants or moisture.

Breeding and Nesting

The Chilean Flicker’s nesting behaviour differs from that of many woodpeckers due to nest sites. It prefers to nest in eroded earthcuts or steep slopes rather than in deadwood or trunks. It creates a nest chamber by digging a large hole into the substrate or earth. It may also use tree cavities, such as dead trees or snags, when they are available.

The clutch size is usually between 4 and 6 white eggs. In Chile, the breeding season tends to last from October through December. This corresponds to the southern hemisphere spring and early summer. Nest selection and excavation may start in September for central zones and last into October for southern zones.

Literature is lacking in terms of information on the behaviour of parents, incubation and fledging. As is common among many woodpecker species, both sexes are likely to share nest excavation, incubation and feeding. The chicks grow inside the cavity and are hidden until they emerge from it.

Pairs defend nesting sites against other conspecifics or intruders. In central Chile, flickers nest in colonial nests in earthen bluffs, such as road cuts and riverbanks, even though they are not a strongly colonial species. In other places, nesting is usually solitary in a cavity. According to eBird, this species is well documented.

Nest sites on slopes or embankments may be advantageous because of their semi-open habitat, ground-foraging habits and reduced competition for cavities. They also offer less pressure from predators that glean the trunks and are closer to food zones. They also pose risks, such as erosion, flooding and human disturbance. According to RSPB, this species is well documented.

The lack of detailed metrics, such as the incubation period, chick growth rates, fledging ages, and brood survival, is a problem that needs to be addressed.

Vocalizations

Its calls have given it its scientific and regional names. In local Spanish, its characteristic vocalisation can be rendered as “pitio piteo piteo”, or “pitiu pitiu pitiu”. This sharp, repetitive call can be heard across wide open spaces or along forest edges.

The flicker also produces whistled sounds (“kwee”, “wee-a”) and a series of “wic wic wic”. Flight calls are slightly different. When the bird is moving, it may change in intensity or tempo, sometimes as a rapid or continuous trill.

Vocalisations may be accompanied by more diverse calls or displays during territorial or courtship encounters (such as head-swinging, tail-spreading, or bobbing). During the breeding season, calls can persist, but may be less frequent.

Mapuche names like putiw are said to be derived from the vocalisations. This onomatopoeic name emphasises how important its call is for its identity.

Status in Europe

• In Italy, the species survived only in Sardinia but was reintroduced in a few other areas of the peninsula. As a result, several specimens were spotted again in August 2006 on the Gran Sasso massif (central Italy).
• In Croatia, a colony of Griffon Vultures can be found near the town of Beli on the island of Cres. There they breed at lower elevations, with some nests just 10 m above sea level. Therefore, contact with people is common.
• In Cyprus, there is a colony at Episkopi, in the south of the island.
• Colonies of Griffon Vultures can be found in northern Israel, especially in the Golan Heights, where a large colony breeds at Gamla, and in the Carmel Mountains and the Negev Desert, where reintroduction projects are being carried out at breeding centres in the Carmel and Negev.
• 
  In Greece, there are nearly 1000 birds. On Crete, they can be found in most mountainous areas, sometimes in groups of up to 20.
• Griffon Vultures have been reintroduced successfully into the Massif Central in France; about 500 are now found there.
• In Belgium and the Netherlands, around 100 birds were present in the summer of 2007. These were vagrants from the Pyrenees population (see below).
• In Germany, the species died out in the mid-18th century. Some 200 vagrant birds, probably from the Pyrenees, were sighted in 2006, and several dozen of the vagrants sighted in Belgium the following year crossed into Germany in search of food. There are plans to reintroduce the species in the Alps. In September 2008, pieces of a griffon vulture bone, about 35,000 years old, were excavated from Hohle Fels cave in southern Germany, which is believed to form a flute.

• In Serbia, there are around 60–65 pairs of Griffon Vulturestheewesterntern part of the country, around Zlatar mountain, and also 35 birds in the canyon of the river Trešnjica, and they are under legal protection from hunting.
• In Switzerland, there is a population of several dozen birds.
• In Austria, there is a remnant population around Salzburg Zoo, and vagrants from the Balkans are often seen.
• In Spain, there are tens of thousands of birds, from a low of a few 1000 around 1980.
• The Pyrenees population has been affected by an EC ruling that, due to the danger of BSE transmission, no carcasses must be left on the fields for the time being. This has critically lowered food availability and,c onsequ consequently, capacity. Although the Griffon Vulture does not normally attack larger living prey, there are reports of Spanish Griffon Vultures killing weak, young, or unhealthy living animals as they do not find enough carrion to eat.