
Photo: (c) Mourad Harzallah, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC-BY
Neophron percnopterus
Diet
Mainly carrion; also small mammals, birds, reptiles and other birds' eggs
Habitat
Open habitat; up to about 2,000m in the Himalaya in summer
The Egyptian vulture, also called the white scavenger vulture or pharaoh's chicken, is a small Old World vulture and the only species in its genus. The adult's plumage is white with black flight feathers in the wings, though wild birds usually look soiled with a rusty or brown shade from mud or iron-rich soil. The contrasting underwing pattern and wedge-shaped tail make it distinctive in flight (Wikipedia, general species account).
It feeds mainly on carrion but is opportunistic and will prey on small mammals, birds and reptiles, and it eats the eggs of other birds, breaking larger ones by tossing a pebble onto them, one of the rare examples of tool use in birds; it also uses twigs to roll up wool for its nest. Populations that breed in temperate regions migrate south in winter, while tropical ones are relatively sedentary (Wikipedia, general species account).