Nature's Cleaner

[manindra_m]

Vultures are often referred to as "nature's cleaners" because they primarily feed on dead animals, effectively removing decaying carcasses from the environment and preventing the spread of disease, thus playing a vital role in maintaining ecological balance.

Jorbeer Conservation Reserve in Bikaner , Rajasthan is a dumpyard for dead animal carcass where thousands of vultures migrate every year to India and make this their nesting ground during winters. Sharing some of the vultures that I spotted during my visit . Thanks for viewing .

Trivia : Our guide told us that of all the species of vulture none of them are native to india . Unfortuntely Indian vultures are classified as Critically Endangered because it has suffered an extremely rapid population decline as a result of mortality from feeding on carcasses of animals treated with the veterinary drug diclofenac. Conservation efforts are on but will take a long time.


DSC05915-DeNoiseAI-clear by manindra mukherjee, on Flickr

Cinereous Vulture


DSC06054-DeNoiseAI-clear by manindra mukherjee, on Flickr

Griffon vulture


DSC05843-DeNoiseAI-standard by manindra mukherjee, on Flickr

Egyptian vulture

[Abhijit Rao]

Superb set! The writeup is interesting too. Thanks for sharing.

[hvyas]

Very nice set !! Liked the first one the most !

[Thad E Ginathom]

Super. Lovely pics.

[Nishit Dave]

The first shot of the Cinereous Vulture is excellent. I've only seen them and the Griffon vultures in childhood feeding on carcasses by the roadside, in their dozens.

Vultures have all but disappeared from Gujarat now. We used to see a few Egyptian vultures some years ago, but they've become very rare now too. Diclofenac.

There's an animal shelter at Dabhla on the way to the Thol Bird Sanctuary. Their carcass dumping ground could earlier be reached from the road, where one could see some vultures and various eagles come to partake in the buffet. Now the whole area has been barricaded with a compound wall.

I only went there once to click some pictures, but I have never revisited those images of afternoon sunlight filtering through translucent membranes of the carcasses again.

[Krish Chandran]

The first shot of the Cinereous Vulture is excellent. I've only seen them and the Griffon vultures in childhood feeding on carcasses by the roadside, in their dozens.

Vultures have all but disappeared from Gujarat now. We used to see a few Egyptian vultures some years ago, but they've become very rare now too. Diclofenac.

There's an animal shelter at Dabhla on the way to the Thol Bird Sanctuary. Their carcass dumping ground could earlier be reached from the road, where one could see some vultures and various eagles come to partake in the buffet. Now the whole area has been barricaded with a compound wall.

I only went there once to click some pictures, but I have never revisited those images of afternoon sunlight filtering through translucent membranes of the carcasses again.

I saw a good number of vultures at the animal shelter in Viramgam last year, en route to Patdi (LRK). The spot is called "Vulture Restaurant" by birding guides.