NL·0230Herbarium of the Nature Library
- Name
- Neophron percnopterus
- Family
- Accipitridae
- Native to
- Southern Europe, North Africa, the Middle East, Central Asia, the Indian subcontinent and sub-Saharan Africa; European and Central Asian birds winter in Africa and Arabia
- Habitat
- Mountains, Semi-desert, Savanna, Farmland
On eBird ↗
Egyptian Vulture
Live sightings near you, the range map, bar charts of when it is seen, and Macaulay Library photos and recordings.
Egyptian vulture
Neophron percnopterus
Also calledRakham (Arabic) · Küçük akbaba (Turkish) · Safed giddh (Urdu/Hindi) · Alimoche (Spanish) · Schmutzgeier (German) · Percnoptère d'Égypte (French)
A small, white vulture with a bare yellow face and a shaggy mane. It is one of the few birds that use tools, throwing stones to crack open ostrich eggs, and it migrates between Europe and Africa.
The Egyptian vulture, also called the white scavenger vulture or pharaoh's chicken, is a small Old World vulture in the monotypic genus Neophron. It is widely distributed from the Iberian Peninsula, North Africa, West Asia and India. The contrasting underwing pattern and wedge-shaped tail make it distinctive in flight as it soars in thermals during the warmer parts of the day. Egyptian vultures feed mainly on carrion but are opportunistic and will prey on small mammals, birds, and reptiles. They also feed on the eggs of other birds, breaking larger ones by tossing a large pebble onto them. Wikipedia
What it can do
- iThrows stones at ostrich eggs to break them, a famous case of bird tool use
- iiUses twigs to roll up wool for nest lining
- iiiEats the faeces of livestock, possibly for carotenoids that colour its face
- ivMigrants cross the Mediterranean at narrow points such as Gibraltar and the Bosphorus
In the field
Field marks
- aAdult dirty-white with black flight feathers
- bBare yellow-orange face and thin, hooked bill
- cWedge-shaped white tail
- dJuveniles dark brown, whitening over about five years
- Voice
- Usually silent; occasional mewing and hissing.
- Not to be confused with
- White stork is longer-legged with a red bill. Griffon vulture is much larger and brown. Booted eagle pale morph has a square tail and feathered head.
- Where to see it
- Spanish sierras (Monfragüe, Picos de Europa), the Balkans, Socotra (Yemen) and Oman; migration at Gibraltar, Belen (Turkey) and Eilat.
- When
- Summer visitor in Europe Mar–Sep; resident in Africa, Arabia and South Asia
Listen
Looking for field recordings…
Life & habits
- Diet
- Carrion, scraps, eggs, small animals, insects and dung
- Habitat
- Mountains and cliffs near open country, villages and rubbish dumps
- Size
- 55–65 cm; wingspan 155–170 cm; 1.6–2.4 kg
Picks over scraps at carcasses and dumps, waiting its turn after larger vultures.
Where it lives
Recorded sightings
—
geo-referenced records in GBIF, from museums, herbaria and field observers.
Native range
Southern Europe, North Africa, the Middle East, Central Asia, the Indian subcontinent and sub-Saharan Africa; European and Central Asian birds winter in Africa and Arabia
Drag the globe to turn it. Dots are where records exist, not a range map; darker means more records.
In the old herbals & bestiaries
Woodcuts and engravings matched from the Source Library’s scanned books by name. Plates marked “relative” show a close kin rather than this exact species. Click a plate to read the page it came from, with translation.
In the stacks
Searching the stacks…
Every page naming Neophron percnopterus in the Biodiversity Heritage Library →
Marginalia
The hieroglyph for the sound 'aleph' (Gardiner G1) depicts this vulture, and the bird's habit of following people gave it the nickname 'Pharaoh's chicken'.
Curiosity
Jane Goodall and Hugo van Lawick first described its stone-throwing in Tanzania in 1966.
Kinship
Photographs: iNaturalist contributors under the licences shown. Records: GBIF.org. Historical plates: Source Library (CC BY-SA 4.0; originals public domain). Summary text: Nature Library editors and Wikipedia (CC BY-SA). Medicinal and edibility notes are historical and educational, not advice. iNaturalist taxon 5361.