Bearded Vulture juvenile

Shortly after seeing the Golden Eagle, I was walking towards the lake at Schwarzsee when a huge bird flew overhead. It reappeared later flying close to the Matterhorn but at some distance from where I was standing. I took a series of long distant photographs before looking at it through my binoculars at which point the length and shape of the tail immediately identified the bird as a Bearded Vulture also known as Lammergeier. I shouted the word ‘Lammergeier’ quite loudly in case there were any other birders nearby and thinking this would be the name by which it would be known in a German speaking part of Switzerland. A Danish couple were very interested but didn’t seem too convinced by my ID until I showed them the photograph. The dark throat indicates this to be a juvenile bird although the pale underparts would suggest that it is approaching adult plumage. Bearded Vulture seemed to me to be very much out of range in this part of Switzerland so I was pleased to meet a Swiss birder a few days later who explained that there is a breeding programme for this declining species in Italy, the Italian border being only a few kilometres from where I took the photograph.