A complete 22° solar halo is seen in the sky in Switzerland, and even an adjacent white parhelic circle can be seen, when suddenly a large bird arrives flying in front of the Sun halo.

The bird is a rare griffon vulture. They are huge, they have a wingspan of up to 2.8 m or over 9 ft. They don't live in Switzerland all year but they do come from Spain and southern France for just a few months in summer in search of food.

The Sun was high in the sky and thus the parhelic circle was rather small and closer to the halo than normally. Usually when you see a solar halo with the Sun being typically at a lower elevation in the sky then the parhelic circle is much wider.

Momentarily also a faint part of circumhorizontal arc ( a.k.a. "fire rainbow" ) was seen below the solar halo ( but not visible in this video ).

This was observed around 1:11 PM on July 9th 2020 in the mountains near lake Walop in western Switzerland, an area where griffon vultures can often be spotted. It is a delight for birdlovers and ornithologists.

filmed with a Sony AX53