>> > > Chris Thompson wrote:
>> > >
>> > > The highest altitude that I know of that a bird has been observed
>>flying is
>> > > a record of a Griffon (I forget the species) at 27,000 feet. It was
>> > > published as a tiny note in Wilson Bulletin many years ago. There are
>> > > many records of waterfowl and geese migrating over mountain ranges
>> > > e.g. the Himalayas) at altitudes in excess of 20,000 feet.


Ken Mugridge replied:

> I remember reading in a (1989) Guiness Book of Records that a Ruppels
> Vulture (Gyps rueppellii) collided with a commercial airliner at
> 11,277m (37,000ft) over Abidjan, Ivory Coast. Sufficient feather
>remains were recovered to allow US Museum of Nat History to make a
>positive ID, but even they acknowledged that this was a freakish
>altitude as this bird is rarely seen above 20,000 ft.


That record (Ruppels Vulture) is also listed the The Audubon Society
Encyclopedia of North American Birds by John Terres (1991) on pages 13-14
under Altitude of Bird Flight, and again on page 358 under How High Do
Dirds Fly? (The original report of it was by Roxy Laybourne of the US
Museum of Natural History in 1974 in the Wilson Bulletin volume 86, pp.
461-462. Closer to home she reports that the previous high altitude record
for a collision with an airplane was with a Mallard at 21,000 ft. over
northern Nevada. She also mentions geese (sp?) flying at 29,000ft. over the
Himalayas.)

Terres summarizes a number of additonal records and says that the Alpine
Chough has been found nesting (not just flying) up to 27,000 feet on Mt.
Everest! A Bar-headed Goose was reported flying over Makalu (a Himalayan
peak with summit at 27,824ft).


Richard (Dick) E. Johnson
Curator, Conner Museum
Washington State University
Pullman, WA 99164-4236