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Large bird in SE Kyrgyzstan (1 Viewer)

ericande

New member
Hello,

I just returned from a trip to far South-East of Kyrgyzstan (Kyrgyz Republic) to a lake just a few miles from the Chinese border. While at the lake, we saw some massive birds circling overhead. I attached the best photo I had of two of the birds and the lake they were above (sorry, I didn't have anything longer than a 60mm with me.) The birds reminded me of the condors I've seen in Pinnacles & Grand Canyon NPs but obviously no condors over here. My best guess from looking at a list of birds here is a Himalayan Vulture but I can't really tell.

The lake we were at was about 11.5k' (3500m) and the birds were flying about 1500' (450m) above us. There were 14-20 in total and they would glide just like condors. The locals told me they were eagles but they don't have that many words for birds (they have just two words for all the eagles that live here) so I don't put much stock in that. Their nests appeared to be in the cliff side.

Any help would be great!
 

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While wikipedia isnt always accurate, a map in the Himalayan griffon vulture entry suggests HGV does occur in eastern Kyrgyzstan.

Rob
 

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And their coverts seem a bit too pale for Eurasian Griffon.


The birds reminded me of the condors I've seen in Pinnacles & Grand Canyon NPs but obviously no condors over here. My best guess from looking at a list of birds here is a Himalayan Vulture but I can't really tell.
You're right though, they're almost equal to condors in terms of size.
 
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I think the bird to the right is a White-tailed Eagle judging by its rectangle-shaped silhouette. I would expect it close to a lake.
 
I think the bird to the right is a White-tailed Eagle judging by its rectangle-shaped silhouette. I would expect it close to a lake.
But the pattern (black remiges and whitish coverts) doesn't fit at all, and the head is proportionally smaller than in a WTE (although in this posture it is kind of difficult to tell, I guess, especially if the bird is holding its head in a low position). Large vultures can superficially resemble WTEs from a certain angle (and vice versa), but there's also the fact to consider that the OP described the birds as resembling condors, not Bald Eagles.
Lastly, Kyrgyzstan is somewhat out of range for WTE, AFAIK.
 
While wikipedia isn't always accurate, a map in the Himalayan griffon vulture entry suggests HGV does occur in eastern Kyrgyzstan. Rob

'Fairly common breeder Kyrgyzstan' Ayé et al 2012 - Birds of Central Asia.

Re White-tailed Eagle - former breeder Kyrgyzstan, but common winterer - van der Ven, J. 2002. Looking at Birds in Kyrgyz Republic. Rarity Publishing, Bishkek. Kyrgyz Republic. (In English and Russian).

(My summaries)
MJB
 
Looks good for Himalayan Griffon. Distribution fits as well I think, see HBW map: http://www.hbw.com/species/himalayan-griffon-gyps-himalayensis

Looks like a great place from that photo!

It was indeed a great place!

I think the bird to the right is a White-tailed Eagle judging by its rectangle-shaped silhouette. I would expect it close to a lake.

It's more the angle than anything. I'm nearly positive all the large birds were the same species.

But the pattern (black remiges and whitish coverts) doesn't fit at all, and the head is proportionally smaller than in a WTE (although in this posture it is kind of difficult to tell, I guess, especially if the bird is holding its head in a low position). Large vultures can superficially resemble WTEs from a certain angle (and vice versa), but there's also the fact to consider that the OP described the birds as resembling condors, not Bald Eagles.
Lastly, Kyrgyzstan is somewhat out of range for WTE, AFAIK.

I'm pretty familiar with Bald Eagles coming from the US PNW and these definitely flew like condors I've seen, not eagles. Also, there were no trees around for eagles to nest (maybe some nest in cliffs but I don't think WTE do?)

Thanks for the responses.
 
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