Gyps indicus
Silhouette: Shyamal · PhyloPic
In 3 days <5% in a week ~10%
The Indian vulture or long-billed vulture (Gyps indicus) is a bird of prey native to the Indian subcontinent. It is an Old World vulture belonging to the family of Accipitridae. It is a medium-sized vulture with a small, semi-bald head with little feathers, long beak, and wide dark colored wings. It breeds mainly on small cliffs and hilly crags in central India and south India.
The Indian vulture is a keystone species that has been listed as Critically Endangered on the IUCN Red List since 2002, as the population has severely declined during the Indian vulture crisis. It is estimated that there are 5,000-15,000 mature individuals in the wild. The main cause of the decline was identified as kidney failure caused by the drug diclofenac, which was commonly given to cattle to reduce joint pain. It is thought that diclofenac poisoned vultures that ate the flesh of dead cattle. Diclofenac bans were enacted in India, Pakistan and Nepal in 2006.
The bird shares its habitat with other vulture species in the same genus (particularly the slender-billed vulture (Gyps tenuirostris) and white-rumped vulture (Gyps bengalensis)) in some parts of its range. The Indian vulture is placed... Wikipedia →
Call1:21
India · 2016
© Oscar Campbell · XC351085 · CC BY-NC-SA 4.0
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Bandhavgarh National Park | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 2 | Ranthambore National Park | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 3 | Satpura National Park | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 4 | Kanha National Park | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 5 | Gir National Park | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 6 | Mudumalai National Park | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 7 | Chitwan National Park | 🇳🇵 Nepal | |
| 8 | Nagarhole National Park | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 9 | Keoladeo National Park | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 10 | Bandipur National Park | 🇮🇳 India |
Rare
Under 5% of wildlife watchers report an Indian Vulture sighting in Chitwan National Park on a given day, based on 21 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 268th most-seen of the 367 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to under 5%, and over a week to about 10%, if each day is a fresh chance.
Any time of year
In every month with enough records, under 5% of wildlife watchers report an Indian Vulture in Chitwan National Park on a given day, so our monthly data shows no clear season.
Between 8 and 11 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Indian Vulture sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
7th of 10
Of the 10 parks where we can rate Indian Vulture sightings, Chitwan National Park ranks 7th at under 5%. The best odds are in Bandhavgarh National Park (India, about 30%), Ranthambore National Park (India, about 20%) and Satpura National Park (India, about 10%).
Same genus: Gyps
The closest relatives of the Indian Vulture that you can see in Chitwan National Park (genus Gyps, Griffon Vultures) are Indian White-rumped Vulture (about 10%), Himalayan Vulture (about 10%) and Slender-billed Vulture (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Indian Vulture is recorded against all the birds logged in Chitwan National Park (21 verified sightings from 2019 to 2026), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
