Linda Swett  age 8. of Falmouth Foresides Maine

What is a lammergeyer?

The most amazing lammergeier story is about a poet. Aeschylus was a writer of tragic poetry in ancient Greece„ At the age of 65 the story goes  he was killed by a lammergeier    though in a rather roundabout way. The lammergeier dropped a heavy turtle on the poets head. It happened because the lammergeier likes to drop his food from a great height„

The lammergeier is also called the bearded vulture and the lamb vulture;. You may also spell his name lammergeir oar lammergeyer. You pronounce it lammer‑guy  er. The strange bird is a relative of the eagles the falconal the hawks and the vultures. Yea  these noble and repulsive birds are cousins. As a group they are called Valooniformesi

The lammergeier is well:. suited to cope with a meat diet. Like all his cousins he has a powerful hooked beak and curved sabre‑like talons on his feet. He also has mighty wings and very keen eyesight. His back is mottled grey and white. Underneath  his feathers are white with pinkish tones. He is called the bearded vulture because he wears a tuft of bristly feathers on his chin.

The lammergeier is a lover of heights. Like his cousin the eagles he likes to build his aerie home high on a rocky ledge. In times gone bys he ranged through the mountains of Europe  Asia and Africa. He has been hunted almost to extinction in the Alps of Europe. But he still soars among tae Pyrenees and the mountains of Africa and India.

In size: he is Europets largest bird of preys He is bigger than the majestic American eagle and bigger than the feather‑legged golden eagle. He is almost as big as the massive condor of the Andes. A large lammergeier may stand four feet ta.2l. His wingspread may be almost ten feet wide. Only the condor and the albatross can outdo his wingspreads

Being a bird of preys the lammergeier swoops down on his dinner from on high. He may catch a scampering rabbit or even a dog. He may steal a sheeps a lamb or a goat. This is wby the farmers did their best to run him out of the grassy  slopes of the Alps. He is also kin to the vultures  he will carry off an animal already dead. Ands so the story says! he will grab a pokey turtle in his claws and fly with him up into the sky.

Once aloft with talons full the lammergeier has a dangerous habit. Often as not he lets go his dinner. Down it crashes to splinter on some stone or rocky ledge below. The reason is that the strange bird loves bone marrow. The crash to earth breaks open the bones. The bird swoops down and starts to feed on his favorite delicacy.

He deals with a hard‑shelled turtle the same way. The long drop smashes the shell and there is the tasty turtle meat.. And this is why Aeschyluss the Greek writer of tragic poetry  accidentally met his tragic end.