Andy Rodker's photos with the keyword: Griffon vulture

'Are ye lookin' at me, PAL?' Perhaps the longest standing 'stare-off' in the history of granite. An amused Griffon Vulture soars by! La Sierra de La Cabrera. I usually scramble up and into that gap on the right and emerge near the top of the escarpment. More fun than using the zigzag and boring path!

Sierra de La Cabrera with the town of La Cabrera below and an interested Griffon vulture or three hovering centre stage! (As a side note, directly below where the central vulture hovers, and on the horizon, is Algete, where I currently live). Maybe best on full screen, if only to emphasis the vastness of the Castillian Plain.

Cancho de La Bola. Home of vultures. There's one soaring above La Bola itself; that white guano-stained boulder at the top. Taken from a snowy GR10 (long-distance path from Lisbon to Valencia). This shows a middle section of La Sierra de La Cabrera.

One of the very best days in these mountains. Peñalara, the highest peak in the Sierra de Guadarrama can be seen, snow covered, to the right on the horizon.

Sierra de La Cabrera, below Cancho Largo.

Sierra de La Cabrera above the fog. Spot the Griffon vulture. Peñalara, the highest point in the Sierra de Guadarrama(2428m, 7975 feet) is on the horizon, nearly dead centre. I am at approx 5,000 feet, so considerably above Ben Nevis.

Sierra de La Cabrera. I found it difficult at first to capture these Griffon vultures, but eventually I found a way. And it meant stealthily climbing upwind and in shade. www.ipernity.com/doc/2247598/album/1022196

Cancho Largo from Cancho Gordo, Sierra de La Cabrera.

The rock is white because that's what vulture guano does to granite over 10,000 years or more! La Sierra de La Cabrera, Madrid Province. That's it from me folks for a couple of weeks. On my return I hope to have fresh Cornwall material to show! Have a good summer!!! Apologies, I now see that I have posted this twice. Oh well ...

I hadn't (yet) been seen

Possibly a juvenile Griffon vulture, unsure of it's wings as yet. I wasn't sure. It kept taking tentative steps to the edge then backed away, rustling its feathers all the time. I had a bus to catch so couldn't wait to see what happened. I would have loved to have captured a maiden flight! I also took a shot with the vulture nearer the top of the picture, with a greater expanse of cliff below it but it had nothing like the same impact, curiously!

Granite rocks and vulture near Mushroom Rock, Sierra de La Cabrera

Griffon vulture on El Cancho de La Bola. A clear day - Uceda, a village in Guadalajara province can be clearly seen here in mid-distance. Normally the heat haze or Madrid smog doesn't allow me to see that far. It has been suggested that full-screen works well here.

Griffon vulture on El Cancho de La Bola, Sierra de La Cabrera. I know I've said this before and I know one or two of you don't like the thought but this granite boulder is only white because of 10,000 years of guano!

The Sentinel! Griffon vulture. La Sierra de La Cabrera with El Pico de La Miel prominent.

Griffon Vulture. El Cancho de La Bola. Sierra de La Cabrera

Vulture on top of El Cancho de La Bola, Sierra de La Cabrera. May 2013.

Sierra de La Cabrera on a foggy day.