Wildlife photographer documents all nine Vulture species in India
Jaisalmer: Standing in the countryside of Jaisalmer, surrounded by dust and decay, wildlife photographer Ishan watched what he describes as the largest congregation of vultures he had ever seen – over 100 birds from four different species gathered around a carcass.”It’s probably something many people may never witness again,” he said.
Out of the 23 vulture species found globally, nine reside in or migrate to India. Ishan has photographed all nine, travelling across deserts, forests, grasslands and mountains to document a bird facing sharp decline.
Before taking up photography full-time, Ishan earned his medical degree in China, completed an MD in public health in Karnataka, worked as an assistant professor in Kerala and served five years in the Indian Air Force as a specialist medical officer. He retired as a squadron leader in 2024.
His journeys took him from Kibber in Himachal Pradesh, where he photographed the bearded vulture – the only vertebrate whose diet is 70 to 90 percent bone and marrow – to Jaisalmer, where he documented migratory cinereous, Egyptian and Eurasian griffon vultures.
In Kaziranga, Assam, he photographed the critically endangered slender-billed vulture, once widespread across the Gangetic plains. In Nagarhole, Karnataka, he documented the white-rumped vulture, which suffered a population collapse of over 95 percent in the 1990s. In Dudhwa, Uttar Pradesh, he photographed the critically endangered red-headed vulture, also known as the Asian king vulture.
India’s vultures have suffered one of the sharpest wildlife declines recorded anywhere in the world, largely due to diclofenac, a painkiller once widely used on cattle. A Wildlife Institute of India assessment found nesting in only 120 of 425 historical vulture sites.
“If these birds hadn’t been here, that carcass would have remained for days, attracting feral dogs and increasing the risk of disease,” Ishan said. “People see something ugly, but I see one of nature’s most efficient public health workers.”
