Red-headed Vulture, Female

Red-headed Vulture

Sarcogyps calvus

The red-headed vulture (Sarcogyps calvus), also known as the Asian king vulture, Indian black vulture or Pondicherry vulture, is an Old World vulture mainly found in the Indian subcontinent, with small disjunct populations in some parts of Southeast Asia.

It is a medium-sized vulture of 76 to 86 cm in length, weighing 3.5–6.3 kg and having a wingspan of about 1.99–2.6 m. It has a prominent naked head: deep-red to orange in the adult, paler red in the juvenile. It has a black body with pale grey band at the base of the flight feathers. The sexes differ in colour of the iris: males have a paler, whitish iris, whilst in females it is dark brown.

The red-headed vulture is very similar in appearance to its larger relative the Lappet-faced vulture in Africa and Arabia, even being historically placed in the genus Torgos

Birda is a birdwatching app and community aimed at curious people who want to deepen their connection with nature.

Red-headed Vultures on Birda

Photos

A photo of a Red-headed Vulture photographed in Corbett Motel India

🐧

Omar Aziz

Your birdwatching journey like never before

Connect with nature in minutes

Take a walk, look out of the window and log the birds that you see. Feel good about those little connections to nature.

Discover the joy of birding

Find new birding spots, see more birds, share and celebrate with a like-minded community of nature lovers.

Play your part in saving nature

Logging your birding sightings and sessions turns into positive action for our planet. Every sighting counts.

Birda Blog

A passionate photographer is outdoors, equipped with a top-notch camera for bird photography.

14 best cameras for bird photography

August 9, 2022

John White

A woman in a jacket birdwatching out in nature, looking at her phone and considering the best birding app.

11 of the best birdwatching apps in the UK

August 8, 2022

John White

A large flock of Red-necked Stints, a great bird to look for when learning how to start birdwatching.

How to start birdwatching – a helpful guide for beginners

January 18, 2022

John White

People looking at a sunset in a Top 10 Birdwatching Park in the US

The top 10 birdwatching parks in the USA

December 7, 2022

Sarah Cunningham

The Best US States For Birdwatching - map of USA with state names

The best US states for bird watching, a helpful illustrated guide

January 17, 2022

John White

Three people walking in nature in a highland, birdwatching and using one of the best free birdwatching apps

What are the best free birdwatching apps?

March 28, 2023

Will Hall

Children are outdoors, enthusiastically observing and admiring birds in their natural habitat.

12 of the best birdwatching apps in the USA

February 9, 2023

Sarah Cunningham

8x vs 10 x binoculars - person holding their pair in hand

Binoculars for birdwatching 8x vs 10x magnification

What Our Birders Say

Marlster24

Recommend for any bird watcher

Very wholesome app: I joined this app with a new interest in watching birds to help me find out what I was spotting. The community is very active in helping identify birds which is great and everyone is very kind so it’s just a nice wholesome community. I would definitely recommend this for any bird spotter 😃

David C

Very knowledgeable group

Nice friendly birding community. Very knowledgeable group with a willingness to help.

778

Great bird recording

For a while I’ve been trying to find an app to easily record bird lists and day out and struggled to find one that I like. Birda is great for this, straightforward and a great community!

Alice J

Awesome Birding Community

I absolutely love the community aspect of this app. The app is so user friendly and has fun interactive challenges to get you out birding. I’ve tried others but since I’ve started using Birda I’ve not gone back!

Stewart W

Fantastic to be involved

Fantastic to be involved, great for mental health and gets you responding with the Challenges that are to takd part in.

Foxgirl100

Great app for beginner twitchers

I’ve had a passion of photographing birds for a long time now but have only just gotten into proper birdwatching, and this app is brilliant for those just getting started. There is a great sense of community among users and the app is very easy to use and professional. Awesome app altogether

Jane N

A great app

Enjoying it immensely and finding it useful too. Recording the different birds and counting them is showing me how the present climate is affecting them all. I've trebled the numbers by planting native hedging. A great app.

EandB17

Terrific App for Birders

Downloaded Birda around the time my interest in birding was sparked, and it has been a terrific app to help me (1) share my experience, (2) document my sightings, and (3) learn more about birds in general. That said, I also believe Birda is a fantastic app for birders of all experience levels. Great community!

Paul F