Gyps rueppellii
Silhouette: Shyamal · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~20% in a week ~40%
Rüppell's vulture (Gyps rueppelli), also called Rüppell's griffon vulture or Rüppell's griffon, a species of vulture named after Eduard Rüppell, is a large, resident bird of prey, mainly native to the Sahel region and East Africa. It is considered to be the highest-flying bird, with confirmed evidence of a flight at an altitude of 11,300 m (37,000 ft), where the average temperature is about −56 °C (−69 °F). The former population of 22,000 individuals has been decreasing due to loss of habitat, incidental poisoning, and other factors. It is therefore listed as Critically Endangered on the IUCN Red List.
Since 1992, Rüppell's vulture has been occurring as a vagrant in Spain and Portugal, with annual records since 1997, mainly in the Cádiz and Strait of Gibraltar area, but also further north. In Morocco, it is a resident species, where some tagged populations have been seen to overwinter.
The Rüppell's vulture is a very large vulture, noticeably outsizing the closely related white-backed vulture, with which they often occur in the wild. Adults are 85 to 103 cm (33 to 41 in) long, with a wingspan of 2.26 to 2.6 m (7 ft 5 in to 8 ft 6 in... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kidepo Valley National Park | 🇺🇬 Uganda | |
| 2 | Serengeti National Park | 🇹🇿 Tanzania | |
| 3 | Murchison Falls National Park | 🇺🇬 Uganda | |
| 4 | Tarangire National Park | 🇹🇿 Tanzania | |
| 5 | Ngorongoro Conservation Area | 🇹🇿 Tanzania | |
| 6 | Masai Mara National Reserve | 🇰🇪 Kenya | |
| 7 | Nairobi National Park | 🇰🇪 Kenya | |
| 8 | Samburu National Reserve | 🇰🇪 Kenya | |
| 9 | Awash National Park | 🇪🇹 Ethiopia | |
| 10 | Meru National Park | 🇰🇪 Kenya | |
| 11 | Bale Mountains National Park | 🇪🇹 Ethiopia | |
| 12 | Amboseli National Park | 🇰🇪 Kenya | |
| 13 | Lake Manyara National Park | 🇹🇿 Tanzania | |
| 14 | Tsavo East National Park | 🇰🇪 Kenya | |
| 15 | Queen Elizabeth National Park | 🇺🇬 Uganda | |
| 16 | Ruaha National Park | 🇹🇿 Tanzania | |
| 17 | Lake Nakuru National Park | 🇰🇪 Kenya | |
| 18 | Tsavo West National Park | 🇰🇪 Kenya | |
| 19 | Lake Mburo National Park | 🇺🇬 Uganda | |
| 20 | Mikumi National Park | 🇹🇿 Tanzania | |
| 21 | Arusha National Park | 🇹🇿 Tanzania | |
| 22 | Akagera National Park | 🇷🇼 Rwanda | |
| 23 | Virunga National Park | 🇨🇩 Democratic Republic of the Congo |
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Addis Ababa | 🇪🇹 Ethiopia |
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Ruppell's griffon sighting in Queen Elizabeth National Park on a given day, based on 102 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 190th most-seen of the 434 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, July–August and November–February
In those months about 10% of wildlife watchers report a Ruppell's griffon in Queen Elizabeth National Park on a given day, against under 5% in March–April, June and September–October, the lowest months.
Between 9 am and noon
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Ruppell's griffon sightings with a recorded time, and about 8 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
15th of 23
Of the 23 parks where we can rate Ruppell's griffon sightings, Queen Elizabeth National Park ranks 15th at about 10%. The best odds are in Kidepo Valley National Park (Uganda, about 40%), Serengeti National Park (Tanzania, about 30%) and Murchison Falls National Park (Uganda, about 30%).
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Ruppell's griffon is recorded against all the birds logged in Queen Elizabeth National Park (102 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.
