Gyps indicus
Silhouette: Shyamal · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~20% in a week ~40%
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 |
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report an Indian Vulture sighting in Gir National Park on a given day, based on 14 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 93rd most-seen of the 135 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 20%, and over a week to about 40%, if each day is a fresh chance.
May, September and December–February
In those months about 10% of wildlife watchers report an Indian Vulture in Gir National Park on a given day, against under 5% in March–April, June and October–November, the lowest months. Those are among Gir National Park's driest months, with about 50 mm of rain a month against 330 mm in July. July and August have too few records to rate.
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.
5th of 10
Of the 10 parks where we can rate Indian Vulture sightings, Gir National Park ranks 5th at about 10%. 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 family: Accipitridae
The closest relatives of the Indian Vulture that you can see in Gir National Park (family Accipitridae, Hawks, Eagles, and Kites) are Oriental Honey-buzzard (about 50%), White-eyed Buzzard (about 30%) and Crested Serpent Eagle (about 30%), 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 Gir National Park (14 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.
