The bearded vulture soars through the skies of the Pyrenees
appearance resembles more that of an eagle than a vulture, and it has a distinctive black «beard» under its beak. We call it the bearded vulture (quebrantahuesos in Spanish) because of one remarkable behavior: it picks up bones that are too large (over 30 cm) in its beak and flies high into the sky to drop them onto rocks. This way, once the bones shatter into smaller pieces, it can eat them. It does the same with turtles, dropping them to break their shells. On clear days, it can sometimes be seen flying from our hotels.
A curious anecdote:
“Aeschylus was a Greek playwright to whom the oracle had predicted death by being crushed by a house. In an attempt to avoid his fate, he lived outdoors. But he was not spared. A bearded vulture dropped a turtle to break its shell, and by chance, it struck poor Aeschylus, killing him. The turtle’s ‘house’ crushed the philosopher who had tried in vain to escape death.”
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