Photo taken in the French Alps, in the Maurienne Valley, specifically.

Vulture, or something else?

Baby Robin

Lammergeier?

The tail shape doesn’t look quite right but the head would suggest Lammergeier

Edit:
Looking again, the body isn’t the right colour, so more likely a Cinereous Vulture

Something graceful, like a Pelican.

Looking at some of the images on Google, if it is a Lammergeier, it’s no wonder they looked so chuffing big, even from a distance

Never seen one. It’s the first thing that popped into my head.

Looks like a Griffon vulture to me. Didn’t know they go to France. Maybe it’s for the footie.

Ooh, jimw, Cinereous Vulture looks like a good shout. Still not small! There were three or four knocking around during the week we were there. Awesome.

Good shot. And helps confirm I saw gandalf the escaped vulture from world of wings in the sound of jura on his way to Islay.

The bare head and white ruff around the neck mark it as a ‘regular’ vulture, rather than a Lammergeier, although I’d be struggling to identify more clearly than that. I’d love to see the young Lammergeier that’s found its way over here, last seen heading for somewhere around Exmoor or Dartmoor.

It’s a griffon vulture, they were re-introduced into some areas of France around 30 years ago and have done very well, I haven’t seen them in the Alps before but have no doubt they are there. Amazing to see them. Lammergeiers would only be in very very remote areas

There was a Lammergeier in Wales then Cornwall a couple of weeks ago.

Surly faced shitehawk

It’s a kestrel

Surely you don’t need an ornithologist for that, you need air traffic control 😯

Seriously, my guess would have been a Griffon Vulture, as seen here:

Even before reading the description my immediate thought on seeing was Bearded Vulture, aka lammergeier. Saw them in the Aosta Valley when taking the bus back from La Thuile to Courmayeur. Huge is an understatement. And yes, as mentioned above one was recently seen around the Severn estuary in Wales, later heading down to Dartmoor.

Thanks for the correct Id from birders more knowledgeable than i 🙂

Doesn’t look like a lammergeir, does it?

Will post a few (less detailed) pictures from other angles; they show the colours a bit better. I think probably not a lammergeier, although it kind of looks like both the other suggestions (not the baby robin or pelican). I’d love if there was an actual species called Surly-Faced Shitehawk, though

Was it by itself or were there a few around? I saw griffon vultures in the Pyrenees a couple of weeks ago. They tend to hang around in groups of 10-12

There were certainly three or four around at any one time.

Griffon Vultures. I camped at a campsite on the Spanish coast last summer, in the north east, and there were loads. Turned out they nested on the sea cliffs there. Awesome sight overhead, watched them for hours from the tent (no need for binoculars

There was a Lammergeier in Wales then Cornwall a couple of weeks ago.

Getting in before the Brexit vote no doubt.
They come over here taking our indigenous birds of prey’s jobs etc

Everyone knows its a pterodactyl.

Everyone knows its a pterodactyl.

Waaaaaaay too big 😉

captaindanger – Member

Lammergeiers would only be in very very remote areas

There’s lammergeiers in the tarantaise valley, I saw one just down from tignes. Not exactly a metropolis but not very remote either (we were on the wonderbus but you could have seen it from the main road) Pretty cool, it basically broke my perception of scale, I couldn’t figure out how far away it was or how fast it was moving til I’d watched it for quite a while, my brain just rejected its size.

Big and stunning bird that.
I bow to the ornithological knowledge of those on here but despite finding virtually all nature incredible I never seem to retain anything useful about it in my head.