Rare sight of Indian vulture spotted in Thane

After a 20-year absence, a vulture was spotted in Mumbai, giving hope for the existence of nesting sites.

First in many years, a vulture was spotted in the skyline of Thane’s Malang Gad by naturalist, Sanal Santosh on January 12 at 10.30 a.m. Indian vulture or long-billed vulture (Scientific name Gyps indicus) has not been spotted over two decades in the city, said officials from forest department.

Avinash Balram Harad, Wildlife Warden, Thane, Forest Department, Government of Maharashtra said, “20 years ago, we used to spot vulture nesting sites in parts of Thane district: Mahuli, Mumbra, Malang Gad and Malshej Ghat but with time their number gradually declined. By 2000, there was 90% decline in vulture population in the the country. When we learnt that a long-billed vulture was spotted in the Malang Gad in Dombivli, it gave us a ray of hope that there must be some nesting site around the hills because this particular vulture type nests wherever there are cliffs and enough food stock for them to survive.” 

Mr. Harad has been studying the existence of vultures for many years now. The last nesting site he and his team spotted was between the year of 2017 and 2019 in Mahuli Fort, Thane, but they couldn’t spot the vultures. “When we first spotted the nesting sites, there were four nests and gradually it was left with one. After 2019, we haven’t been able to trace their existence at all. With the help of the rock climbers from Akhil Maharashtra Giryarohan Mahasangh (an apex organisation for mountaineering in the Maharashtra State) we have had four expeditions recently but we couldn’t spot a single vulture or its nest,” said Mr. Harad. 

Sanal Santosh who photographed the rare sight of vulture, immediately informed the forest department along with the environmentalist groups in the city to document the vulture’s presence. 

There are many myths around vultures based on their appearance and their behaviour but they have immense ecological significance to forest and urban ecosystems. Vultures play a major role in curbing environmental contamination through scavenging on carcasses and thus work as an agent in preventing the spread of disease, explained Mr. Santosh and said, “One of the major reasons of their decline in population is because of the Diclofenac drug, a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug used in livestock farming that has lethal effects on vultures when they feed on the carcasses. But over the years, there has been awareness in the city and spotting one vulture is a positive sign.” 

Malang Gad is a well-known spot for raptors where naturalists often visit to record them in their camera. Mr. Santosh was there from 8 a.m. clicking and recording Booted Eagles and suddenly he noticed a massive bird soaring. “Since I had a Point and Shoot camera it was easier for me to click a record shot of the scavenger above. This is the second time I have seen an Indian Vulture like this among other raptor species, the other record occurred in Vadodara, Gujarat at Timbi Lake in 2022.”