The Lammergeier (Gypaetus barbatus), literally "Lamb vulture" from german, is one of the most beautiful and iconic vultures. 

Its icy eyes embedded in a red circle, the black facial mask that becomes a shaggy goatee, the characteristic silhouette and its gorgeous orange feathers are Lammergeier's true trademarks.

Besides it's aspect odd eagle-like aspect, the Lammergeier is also famous for some very peculiar habits of it.

The first is its diet. The Lammergeier only feeds on bones and bone-marrow.

The second is realated to the colour of its feathers. The lammergeier would be black and white, but often it appears black and orange. How comes? This vultures dyes the feathers by bathing in ferrugineous ponds. The mud, rich in iron, cointained in these water sources, gives the typical colour to the feathers.

In this presentation we're gonna take a look closer to these two habits that I've illustrated for a video about Lammergeier in collaboration with Diorama Nature.

You can see the video at the end of this page.

At the end you can also see the speedpaint that shows how I've painted the Lammergeier.

Enjoy!

I chose to settle this illustration in the Greater Caucasus, somewhere between Russia, Georgia and Armenia. You can tell it from the bushes that are aroud the lemmergeier.

Those plants are Yellow Azaleas (Rhododendron luteum), are typical of South-eastern Europe and South-western Asia, included the Caucasus. Those azaleas turn red in autumn.