Indian Vulture

Indian Vulture

Gyps indicus

Silhouette: Shyamal · PhyloPic

LCNTVUENCRCritically Endangered
Daily sighting probability <5% · Rare
at Keoladeo National Park

In 3 days <5% in a week ~10%

23 Verified sightings at Keoladeo National Park From 2019 to 2026
2,058 In all 10 parks
January Best month
☀️ Diurnal When it's spotted

About the Indian Vulture

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 →

Sounds

Call1:21

India · 2016

© Oscar Campbell · XC351085 · CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

Global Distribution

Parks Where Found

# Park Country Daily sighting probability
1 Bandhavgarh National Park 🇮🇳 India
~30%
2 Ranthambore National Park 🇮🇳 India
~20%
3 Satpura National Park 🇮🇳 India
~10%
4 Kanha National Park 🇮🇳 India
~10%
5 Gir National Park 🇮🇳 India
~10%
6 Mudumalai National Park 🇮🇳 India
<5%
7 Chitwan National Park 🇳🇵 Nepal
<5%
8 Nagarhole National Park 🇮🇳 India
<5%
9 Keoladeo National Park 🇮🇳 India
<5%
10 Bandipur National Park 🇮🇳 India
<5%

Cities Where Found

# City Country Daily sighting probability
1 Gwalior 🇮🇳 India
~20%
2 Bhopal 🇮🇳 India
<5%
3 Nashik 🇮🇳 India
<5%

Before you go

What are the chances of seeing an Indian Vulture in Keoladeo National Park?

Rare

Under 5% of wildlife watchers report an Indian Vulture sighting in Keoladeo National Park on a given day, based on 23 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 217th most-seen of the 278 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.

When is the best time to see an Indian Vulture in Keoladeo National Park?

Any time of year

In every month with enough records, under 5% of wildlife watchers report an Indian Vulture in Keoladeo National Park on a given day, so our monthly data shows no clear season.

What time of day is best to see an Indian Vulture?

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.

Where does the Indian Vulture sighting chance come from?

GBIF citizen-science records

It is estimated from how often the Indian Vulture is recorded against all the birds logged in Keoladeo National Park (23 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.

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