Images from Chania show a Griffon Vulture (Gyps fulvus), also a victim of climate change, which, instead of soaring over the high mountain peaks of the White Mountains, landed visibly exhausted and disoriented on the beach of Georgioupolis in Chania.

The large vulture offered an unexpected sight to bathers, who, with the assistance of the lifeguard, moved it away from the sea until the bird could receive care from the Forestry Service, which was called to the scene for this purpose.

The Griffon Vulture is a diurnal scavenger bird, one of the vultures found in Greece. Its most notable features are: very large size and two color “tones”—light brown and blackish—found in all plumages (both juvenile and adult).

In Greece, the Griffon Vulture is also known by the names: Alatzás (Kos), Goupias (Elymbos, Karpathos), Gioupas (Cyprus), Gymnokefalo (“bare-headed,” Kefalonia), Erythrógypas, Zaganó or Zágano, Kanavós (Crete), Kokkinógypas, Kókkino Órnio, Skanítis (Cyclades), and Skára (Crete).