Griffon Vulture Colony — Gorges du Verdon France

About this spectacle

Standing on the rim road above La Palud-sur-Verdon, you find yourself looking down into a 700-metre limestone chasm where the turquoise Verdon River glints far below, white cliff faces rise in dramatic towers, and dark green pine forest clings to every ledge. As morning sun warms the south-facing walls, griffon vultures — birds with a 2.6-metre wingspan that dwarfs any other French raptor — launch from their cliff-ledge nests and spiral upward on invisible thermals. Because the viewing points sit above the flight paths, observers watch these enormous birds at eye level or even below them, close enough to see the pale ruff of neck feathers and the slight adjustments of primary feathers in flight. With 150 or more birds in the colony, the sky above the gorge rarely empties; groups of five or ten vultures circle together before drifting south toward the plateau. The birds are entirely habituated to traffic and human presence on the rim road, making sustained, relaxed observation easy. The combination of the gorge's colour palette, the scale of the birds, and the fact that this colony was reintroduced from zero after a 1940 local extinction gives the encounter a quietly remarkable quality.

When to go

Jan — Dec, peak Mar — Sep

Getting there

Nearest airport: MRS. Nearest city: Digne-les-Bains.

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