A day in the life of a young Griffon

The day promised to be interesting as gulls attracted my attention mid-morning. I climbed onto the museum's roof to see a juvenile Griffon Vulture rapidly dropping from the sky, undercarriage down...

I took these photos from the roof and then lost the bird as it dropped somewhere between the buildings of the City of Gibraltar. I knew that, sooner or later, he'd have to fly and the gulls would give his presence away. So I waited. A couple of hours later a friend called to say a large vulture was sitting on the roof of a house, attracting the attention of gulls and passers by so off I went...

and there he was, resting in stoic fashion, almost accepting its lot...

at this time of year tired young birds get separated from the flock and become disorientated. They tire and seek a place in which they can rest and recover. But, try as it might, moving from rooftop to rooftop he just couldn't get away from the gulls...

as he moved I got good chances of getting close to him as the following shots show...

A few minutes ago he was roosting on a high building and the gulls seemed to have left him. The saga will continue in the morning...