Lammergeier

July 12 2018. Tien Shan Mountains, Kyrgyzstan. This day was notable for a couple of things: a Lamergeier; and a thunder storm that chased us off the mountain with snow, sleet and rain .

The Lammergeier (also known as Bearded Vulture) came first. It was warm and sunny when we first saw it, it was visible for several minutes, very high and far away circling the rim-peaks of the valley.  It’s worth noting that in this wide, long-views environment we saw many indeterminate black dots against the far sky, dots that might just as easily have been Golden Eagles, Cinereous Vultures, Lammergiers or even something smaller like an Upland Buzzard. In this case its shape and especially the long, diamond-shaped tail were diagnostic and the habitat was right. We confidently reported our bird as a Lammergeier at our evening de-brief and knowing nods of assent confirmed that it is to be expected as a resident species. Expected or not, it’s a pretty sensational bird. This photo was taken a few days later by Markus Gudat one of our team members; you’ll get the idea.

But what of the thunderstorm? Every day included long spells of clear fine weather, it was usually clear and cold to start and then warm T-shirt weather followed. But many times as the day wore on we’d watch a nasty cloud gathering over a mountaintop somewhere, often we heard distant thunder rolls too. We came to expect some kind of bad weather by mid or late afternoon but we were usually back at base camp by then. And bad weather it was with squally winds and driving rain. Once or twice as I lay snug (and dry) in my little tent I was sure the wind was trying to rip it all apart. Was it possible, I wondered, for the battering winds to pick it all up: me, tent and all, and flip the whole package skyward like the cow in the 1996 tornado movie Twister.

On this day our team had very nearly reached the upper limit of our day’s hike. We were near enough to the head of our side-valley, close to where milky-blue torrents of melt-water appeared from gravelly springs and moraines. We watched one of those dark clouds gather around the closest peak and then start to spill out in our direction growing thicker and more wintery cold as it did. We agreed it was time to turn back; our day’s survey work had turned up nothing of particular note and staying where we were would pointless (if not perilous.). It took about an hour, perhaps two, with snow turning to rain driving at our backs, to reach our Toyota. At base camp our drying-out yurt was ready with a hot stove, tea, and clotheslines; a place to share stories from the day.