vultures in andalucía
If you are one of those persons interested in local fauna of Andalucía, maybe you heard about Lynx, our bobcat, or the ibex. We have thousands of different birds as well, and many people from around the world come to see them. But for me one of the most interesting birds for sure are the vultures of Andalucía .
One of the most common vultures are Griffon vulture (Gyps fulvus) an animal easily spot in places where humans have sheeps or goat for their milk and cheese.
People sometimes think that these animals are going to attack their cattle, on the contrary, what a vulture does is to search for the dead animals, and eat them.
And this is a very important thing, because they are going to “clean” the spaces from dead animals. Imagine going on a hike and see a dead cow, maybe is recently dead, but if it has been weeks ago, it is not going to be a very beautiful sight.
Throughout years, vultures have earned a very dark legend because of this. But, in some places of Spain they did worship the vultures because they thought that vultures where the connection between this life, and the other one to come. Beautiful, isn’t it? Two completely different thoughts from a same fact.
But the vultures are not the only ones who eat carrion. Also the fox, or the badger love to find “fast food” in their way. And this is good for them, but of course also for the environment and for us.
But, lets focus in our vultures and some curiosities:
curiosities
Our Griffon vulture is bald. If you see one of its wings, and the feathers they have, they are huge. But then, the head is bald. Why? because nature is very clever. Considering that the bird is a scavenger, that will enter to the weakest parts of the animals, it will enter into their stomach. And if you have your head there, better not having anything that may get stuck when you want to exit it. If you have feathers in your head, maybe one can get stuck and you get injured, and maybe get an infection. So better be a little uglier, than getting problems.
Fun fact in Spain. The Griffon vulture is called the lion vulture. This is because of the feathers in their neck, that seems like a lion head, in some way…
10 kilos in the air
A vulture can be 10 kilos heavy (22 pounds) and they fly. This is amazing.
But once again, their nature is very clever. They live on the top of high cliffs. Once they start their morning, they just jump. And here is the thing. Maybe they flap their wings, but they will search for temperatures. What does it means? As you may know, hot air tends to go up, so, if they find this hot air, they will go up. And what happens if the want to go down. They will feel where the cold air is coming, and they will go down.
That’s also why the vultures are normally spotted at the early hours of the day. Because in summer, in Spain, at 12hours, everything is completely hot.
So, if you look into the skies, and you see a huge animal, not flapping its wings, it will be a vulture.
And how do they find the dead animals body? it was said, that they would find it just smelling it. But, they fly and fly till they see sparkling spots on the land. Normally, these sparkling spots are the magpies, the birds who are the first to arrive to the animals bodies.
other vultures
We have other amazing vultures in Jaén. Here you can see for example the Black vulture. He likes loneliness, so it is normal to see just one of them. Sometimes mixed between a griffon vulture group.
black legends in the air
If you ask to someone, what is a vulture for you? they will say a “bicho”. An animal with no positive point and ugly. Normally, they don’t know their important role in nature. And they even think that this animal attack the cattle.
But in other places, in other time, there were people who thought that if this animal took the flesh of dead bodies, and flew to the skies, they were taking dead to next life.
That’s why you can find in north Spain some sculptures with vultures taking care of the dead, and bringing them to heaven.
Evenmore, they use to leave the dead bodies without burials, in order to help the vultures to do their job.
So, even when this animals have this look. Bald, ungainly, scavangers…they are one important element in nature. For some people also important for ghosts. And for me, are a link in the important chain that connect us all.
And you? Do you like this animals? Would you like to see them in Iberian skies?