[SUBMAN1]

Originally Posted by August

That is very difficult to believe. After all Mt Everest is only 29000 feet high. How could a bird with their high metabolism survive 8 thousand feet higher than that?

Geese can get pretty high up too last I heard.

Found something on it:

Birds are capable of flying at much higher altitudes. Bar-headed Geese are known to cross the Himalayas at 29,500 feet (9,000 m). The world record holder is a Ruppell’s Griffon Vulture seen at 37,000 feet (11,300 m.) A Mallard, which struck an airplane at 21,000 feet (6,400 m), holds the record for the highest documented flight altitude for a bird in North America.