Gyps himalayensis
Silhouette: Shyamal · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~20% in a week ~30%
The Himalayan vulture (Gyps himalayensis) or Himalayan griffon vulture is an Old World vulture native to the Himalayas and foothills in North and Northeastern India, as well as the adjacent Tibetan Plateau. After the cinereous vulture (Aegypius monachus), it is the second-largest Old World vulture species, and among the world's largest true raptors. It is listed as Near Threatened on the IUCN Red List. It is not to be confused with the Eurasian griffon vulture (Gyps fulvus), which is a visually similar, sympatric species.
The Himalayan vulture has dark brown greater covert feathers, tail and wing quills, but a pale buff uniform upperside and paler tipped inner secondaries; its legs are covered with buffy feathers and vary in colour from greenish grey to pale brown. The underside and under-wing coverts are pale brown or buff, almost white in some individuals. The whitish down on the head of immatures changes to yellowish in adults who have a long and pale brown ruff with white streaks and long and spiky ruff feathers.
The pale blue facial skin is lighter than the dark blue in Gyps fulvus with this species having a yellowish bill. In flight the long fingers are splayed... Wikipedia →
Call0:27
China · 2013
© Tomas Carlberg · XC175964 · CC BY-NC-SA 4.0
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Gobi Gurvansaikhan National Park | 🇲🇳 Mongolia | |
| 2 | Jiuzhaigou National Park | 🇨🇳 China | |
| 3 | Kaziranga National Park | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 4 | Hemis National Park | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 5 | Langtang National Park | 🇳🇵 Nepal | |
| 6 | Jim Corbett National Park | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 7 | Chitwan National Park | 🇳🇵 Nepal | |
| 8 | Manas National Park | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 9 | Royal Bardia National Park | 🇳🇵 Nepal | |
| 10 | Royal Manas National Park | 🇧🇹 Bhutan | |
| 11 | Namdapha National Park | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 12 | Bandhavgarh National Park | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 13 | Kanha National Park | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 14 | Keoladeo National Park | 🇮🇳 India |
| # | Zoo / Centre | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | ZooParc de Beauval | 🇫🇷 France | |
| 2 | Zlín-Lešná Zoo | 🇨🇿 Czechia | |
| 3 | Parc des oiseaux | 🇫🇷 France | |
| 4 | Xinjiang Tianshan Safari Park | 🇨🇳 China | |
| 5 | Arignar Anna Zoological Park | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 6 | Beijing Wildlife Park | 🇨🇳 China | |
| 7 | Nehru Zoological Park | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 8 | Ningbo Wildlife Park | 🇨🇳 China | |
| 9 | Sanjay Gandhi Biological Park | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 10 | Guangzhou Zoo | 🇨🇳 China | |
| 11 | National Zoo of Malaysia | 🇲🇾 Malaysia | |
| 12 | Almaty Zoo | 🇰🇿 Kazakhstan | |
| 13 | Thiruvananthapuram Zoo | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 14 | Himalayan Zoological Park | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 15 | Gopalpur Zoo | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 16 | Penza Zoo | 🇷🇺 Russia | |
| 17 | Зоопарк Каракол | 🇰🇬 Kyrgyzstan | |
| 18 | Chittagong Zoo | 🇧🇩 Bangladesh | |
| 19 | Farm in the City | 🇲🇾 Malaysia | |
| 20 | Donjon des aigles | 🇫🇷 France |
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Himalayan Vulture sighting in Royal Bardia National Park on a given day, based on 17 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 165th most-seen of the 233 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 20%, and over a week to about 30%, if each day is a fresh chance.
January, March–April and September
In those months about 10% of wildlife watchers report a Himalayan Vulture in Royal Bardia National Park on a given day, against under 5% in February, May–July and October–December, the lowest months. Those are among Royal Bardia National Park's driest months, with about 85 mm of rain a month against 590 mm in July. August has too few records to rate.
Between 7 and 10 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Himalayan Vulture sightings with a recorded time, and about 7 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is most active around dawn and dusk.
9th of 14
Of the 14 parks where we can rate Himalayan Vulture sightings, Royal Bardia National Park ranks 9th at about 10%. The best odds are in Gobi Gurvansaikhan National Park (Mongolia, about 60%), Jiuzhaigou National Park (China, about 50%) and Kaziranga National Park (India, about 30%). All parks ranked.
Same family: Accipitridae
The closest relatives of the Himalayan Vulture that you can see in Royal Bardia National Park (family Accipitridae, Hawks, Eagles, and Kites) are Crested Serpent Eagle (about 50%), Crested Hawk-Eagle (about 40%) and Oriental Honey-buzzard (about 30%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Himalayan Vulture is recorded against all the birds logged in Royal Bardia National Park (17 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.
