Griffon vulture
Gyps fulvus
A large pale-bodied vulture with dark flight feathers and a short tail. Confirmed in Georgia as a breeding resident and a migrant on the 2024 national bird checklist. Named colonies are documented in Vashlovani and Kazbegi.
At a glance
Key facts in one look
Diet
Carrion
Status in Georgia
Resident and migrant
Size
93–122 cm
Habitat
Cliffs and open country
Family
Accipitridae
Conservation
VU / IUCN LC
Human interaction: It is not a threat to people on ordinary encounters. It is not venomous. The bill is used on carcasses; do not handle it. Colonies can be sensitive to visitors. Do not approach nests. Capture or killing of a Red List species is prohibited. Poisoned baits are a direct risk to scavengers.
Overview
What is Griffon vulture
The griffon vulture (Gyps fulvus) is a large cliff-nesting scavenger, confirmed in Georgia as a year-round resident and migrant. It belongs to the family Accipitridae. Georgian uses ორბი; ჩვეულებრივი ორბი and თეთრთავა ორბი also appear in dictionaries and search. The 2024 annotated checklist of the birds of Georgia codes it YR-R; M: a breeder present through the year, and a passage migrant. Seasonality is classed as high-quality (code A). Occurrence quality is high (H), with photographs. Birds of all ages have pale brown body plumage contrasting with dark flight and tail feathers. It is not a threat to people on ordinary encounters; colonies and nests should not be approached. IUCN lists the species as Least Concern. Georgia’s 2014 Red List treats it as Vulnerable (VU, D1). The 2024 checklist assigns national category NT; those two national assessments disagree.
Last updated
Gallery
Griffon vulture in photos
Photo: BirdingInSpain
Montsec, Lleida ·
Photo: Artemy Voikhansky
Mount Carmel ·
Photo: Alexis Lours
Paris Zoological Park ·
Photo: Juan Arrago
Hoces del Duratón ·
Photo: Juan Arrago
Hoces del Duratón ·
Identification
How to identify Griffon vulture
A large pale-bodied vulture with contrasting dark flight feathers, a short tail and a pale ruff in adults. Confirmed in Georgia as a breeding resident and a migrant on the 2024 checklist. Usual confusion is with cinereous, bearded and Egyptian vultures and with golden eagle.
- 01
At species level length is about 93–122 cm and wingspan about 2.3–2.8 m (Galvez et al. 2005 give 240–280 cm). A separate measured series from Georgia is not given on this page. The head and neck are largely bare; adults have a white or pale ruff. Body coverts are pale sandy brown; flight and tail feathers are dark. In soaring flight the wings are long and broad with fingered tips and are often held in a shallow V; the tail is short. Sexes are alike in the field; females are generally larger.
- 02
Juveniles have a browner ruff and more mottled upperparts; they take several years to reach adult plumage. Adults remain near colonies. Immatures are the age class most often involved in long-distance movement.
- 03
Cinereous vulture (Aegypius monachus) is also YR-R; M on the 2024 checklist; this atlas has a page for that species. It is uniformly dark, with a short wedge-shaped tail, and often soars with flatter wings. Bearded vulture (Gypaetus barbatus) is YR-R: narrower wings, a long diamond-shaped tail, and a rusty body with a black “beard” in adults. Egyptian vulture (Neophron percnopterus) is BB; M and much smaller; adults are white with black flight feathers and a yellow face. Golden eagle (Aquila chrysaetos) has a page in this atlas: longer tail, golden nape, feathered tarsi; it hunts live prey. Common buzzard (Buteo buteo) is much smaller. Bearded and Egyptian vultures do not yet have separate pages here.
- 04
It is not a direct threat to people on an ordinary hike. Leave colonies alone. A large pale vulture with dark flight feathers over a cliff colony is more likely this species than an eagle.
Biology
Habitat, diet, behavior, and conservation
Habitat and range
This page does not colour a municipality-by-municipality map. The 2024 checklist confirms country-level resident and migrant status but does not publish a regional gazetteer. Do not assume it nests evenly on the Colchis plain or in closed forest. Gavashelishvili and McGrady (2006) modelled Caucasian nest-site use: occupancy of a safe cliff ledge was negatively related to annual rainfall at the ledge and positively related to the share of open ground and the annual biomass of dead livestock within 20 km. Named Georgian breeding sites with recent counts: Eagle Canyon Natural Monument in Vashlovani Protected Areas, Kakheti, including cliffs at Khornabuji fortress and adjacent faces (Javakhishvili & Paposhvili, CNF/UNDP; 21 pairs in 2021, 24 pairs in 2023). Those authors treat the canyon and neighbouring cliffs as one eastern Georgian breeding group, not the whole national population. Kazbegi National Park and nearby cliffs in Mtskheta–Mtianeti, including the Dariali Gorge near Gveleti and a colony near Mount Kabarjini (Javakhishvili & Melikishvili, 2021; Javakhishvili & Paposhvili, 2023): 27 pairs in 2021 and 14 pairs in 2023. Gavashelishvili (2005) and Gavashelishvili and McGrady (2006) had earlier mapped four to five breeding colonies in the Kazbegi area. Adults stay near colonies year-round; immatures mostly move south after the breeding season and return in spring (Galvez, Gavashelishvili & Javakhishvili 2005). Batumi Raptor Count autumn totals for this species were 1–9 birds per season in 2011–2018 (Wehrmann et al. 2019; Birds of the World). That is passage, not a breeding map. Photographs on this page were not taken in Georgia.
Diet
It is an obligate scavenger: it feeds on carcasses of large domestic and wild mammals, not as a hunter of live large prey. Galvez et al. (2005) and the Vashlovani and Kazbegi monitoring reports use that diet for Georgia. No percentage prey table from a Georgian nest sample is given on this page. Gavashelishvili and McGrady (2006) treat dead livestock biomass near the colony as a predictor of nest-site use in the Caucasus. Do not put out poisoned carcasses or bait wild birds.
Behavior
It is active by day. It is social and nests in small cliff colonies, not as scattered tree nesters like cinereous vulture in south-east Georgia. Courtship is mainly in December–January; eggs are laid from February to April; the clutch is typically one egg. Both sexes incubate. Galvez et al. (2005) give incubation 49–65 days and fledging at 97–136 days; Gavashelishvili (2005) gives incubation 48–54 days and fledging at 110–115 days. Chicks hatch from March to late April. The 2024 checklist treats the species as a breeding resident and also as a migrant. Voice is rarely heard in flight; hisses and grunts occur at carcasses and at the nest. Do not handle wild birds or approach colonies.
Conservation
BirdLife International assesses Gyps fulvus as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List (2021). The 2024 Georgian bird checklist assigns global category LC and national category NT. Government Decree No. 190 of 2014 lists the species on Georgia’s Red List as ორბი, Gyps fulvus Hablizl, 1783, status VU, criterion D1 (small population). That is the legal list; the 2024 ornithological checklist codes it NT nationally. The European Red List of Birds annex reports 120–1,300 breeding pairs in Georgia (2013–2017, partial method) and an increasing short-term trend (2005–2017, partial); the long-term trend is unknown. That pair range is a partial estimate, not a complete census. Site counts above are colony samples. Abuladze (2014), cited in Birds of the World, records eleven birds killed by poachers in Georgia since 1973. The Vashlovani monitoring report lists poisoning, disturbance, food shortage, nest-site competition and habitat change among factors known to reduce vulture breeding populations in general; it does not quantify a national loss. Do not catch or kill wild birds.
Questions
Frequently asked questions
Short answers to the most important questions about Griffon vulture.
Yes. The 2024 annotated checklist of the birds of Georgia lists it as a year-round resident and a migrant (YR-R; M), with photographs.
Named breeding colonies are documented at Eagle Canyon and Khornabuji in Vashlovani Protected Areas (Kakheti) and in Kazbegi National Park, including Dariali Gorge near Gveleti. Autumn passage at Batumi is recorded in very small numbers. This page does not map every region. Do not approach nests.
A large pale sandy body, dark flight feathers, a short tail and, in adults, a pale ruff. It often soars with wings in a shallow V. Cinereous vulture is uniformly dark. Golden eagle has a longer tail and a golden nape.
About 93–122 cm long at species level, wingspan about 2.3–2.8 m. A separate measured series from Georgia is not given on this page.
Carrion of large mammals, including livestock. It is not a typical hunter of live large prey. No Georgian percentage diet table is given on this page.
All year as a breeding resident, according to the 2024 checklist, which also codes it as a migrant. Adults stay near colonies. Immatures mostly move south after breeding. Batumi autumn counts of this species are in single figures.
Yes. YR-R means resident breeder. Recent nest counts include 24 pairs at Eagle Canyon in 2023 and 14 pairs in Kazbegi in 2023. The clutch is typically one egg.
It is harmless on ordinary encounters; do not approach colonies. It is globally Least Concern. The 2014 Red List lists it as VU D1; the 2024 checklist codes it NT nationally. Do not catch wild birds.
- Budagashvili & Javakhishvili 2024 — The birds of Georgia (Sandgrouse 46)
- Javakhishvili & Paposhvili 2023 — Vashlovani Eagle Canyon monitoring
- Javakhishvili & Paposhvili 2022 — Vashlovani 2021 monitoring (GEO)
- Javakhishvili & Melikishvili 2022 — Kazbegi 2021 monitoring (GEO)
- Javakhishvili & Paposhvili 2023 — Kazbegi monitoring
- Gavashelishvili & McGrady 2006 — Breeding site selection (Animal Conservation)
- BirdLife International 2021 — European Red List of Birds, Gyps fulvus
- BirdLife DataZone — Griffon Vulture
- IUCN Red List — Gyps fulvus (BirdLife International 2021)
- საქართველოს მთავრობის დადგენილება №190 (2014) — წითელი ნუსხა
- NPLG Wiki Dictionaries — ორბი
- Ilia State University Multiterm — ორბი / griffon vulture
- IOC World Bird List
- Wehrmann et al. 2019 — Batumi Raptor Count dataset (ZooKeys 836)
- Salvador 2022 — Birds of the World (Gyps fulvus)
- SABUKO — Bird checklist
- Wikimedia Commons — Griffon Vulture in flight (BirdingInSpain, CC BY-SA 3.0)
- Wikimedia Commons — The flight of a griffon (Artemy Voikhansky, CC BY-SA 4.0)
- Wikimedia Commons — Griffon vulture head (Alexis Lours, CC BY 4.0)
- Wikimedia Commons — Colony, Hoces del Duratón (Juan Arrago, CC0)
- Wikimedia Commons — In flight, Hoces del Duratón (Juan Arrago, CC0)
Species profiles are compiled from peer-reviewed literature and established biodiversity databases, and are reviewed as new taxonomic and conservation data become available.
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