Vulture Culture

One of the great things about this part of Spain - the foothills of the Pyrenees in northern Aragon - is the abundance of wildlife. On the 12km drive from my parents place down into the village I almost invariably stumble across animals of some kind. During the day that may be a family of partridges whirring out of the bushes or sometimes a hare will scarper out in front of the car, tempting me to put my foot down on the accelerator... (I don't, obviously, but you'ld like to, do you see?) At night though is when it really gets busy, with foxes, all kinds of rodents, and if you're lucky a wild boar will find itself on your path up or down the hill and confused by the headlights, run in front of the car for a few hundred yards, before diving into the black forest that borders the dirt track on both sides. The other day I even caught a glimpse of two deer, bushy white tailed and all, drinking at a small muddy pool near our house.

The best sights however, come from the sky. Aragon is home to some 25 species of birds of prey, everything from the tiny falcon, known as a Merlin, to the giant Lammergeier or Bearded Vulture. The other day, while driving down to the village, I bumped into these two scavengers, basking in the sun.

They're also vultures, Griffon Vultures to be precise, known here as the buitre leonado or buitre común. And luckily for us, they are very common around here.

Just a few miles from where we live there's a rock formation of about 150 metres in height, know as the Mallos de Riglos, after the village at their base. A colony of around 70 pairs of these gigantic birds nest in the crags of the rock face. During the day they scour the countryside for rotting meat, using the difference in air temperature to fly, soaring up and then gliding down the air pockets.

These two were waiting for the morning sun to heat up the air in the narrow valley, to the right of the road, so they could take off without too much effort. Unluckily for them however I came storming down the path. They obviously considered my arrival more a nuisance than a threat and took their time leaving, which gave me the opportunity to shoot this photo. As soon as I stepped out of the car though they were off, grumblingly making the effort of beating their enormous wings.

No sooner had I turned the next corner though, when five or six other other Griffon vultures lept from the trees to my left, audibly beating their wings as the passed over the car and left in the same direction as the first two. This one stayed behind a little longer and gave me time to take another shot.

As I said, seeing vultures here is an almost daily occurrence, but it's one thing having them circling high above you and another to have two huge clumsy birds almost on the car bonnet. Although, circling vultures also make for some spectacular sights. Here's a picture I took of some 50 or 60 odd scavengers trying to approach the carcass of some dead animal that the hunters had left behind a few Sundays ago.