Griffon Vultures up close 3

At least 200 Griffon Vultures scramble for the meat clambering on top of each other demolishing almost everything within minutes.

Griffon Vultures up close 2

Digiscoped head shots of the vultures showing that each individual had it's own distinctive features and were readily identifiable from each other.

Griffon Vultures up close

What an amazing experience.  We were so close we could smell them, and they were a bit wiffy.  The sheer numbers and the frenzy when the meat was put out was breathtaking.

The feeding station was located high up on a mountain in Northern Spain.  To get the following photos we had to be quick as it was all over in minutes as the vultures demolished a huge amount of meat in no time at all.

First a little history about how the feeding stations materialized.  When Mad Cow disease broke out in the UK the Spanish authorities were worried about it spreading into Spain so a law was passed that farmers had to remove any dead livestock on their land.  These dead animals were a vital food source for the vultures so the vulture numbers began to decline.  This resulted in the creation of these feeding stations and the vulture numbers are now increasing again.