This sad vulture has tried twice to take to the skies and flopped both times

• An endangered cinereous vulture that crash-landed in Singapore is due for release back into the wild.
• The bird was seen flopping along the ground in a futile attempt to lift off on January 4.

Sometimes, your best just isn't good enough.

That was the hard lesson learned by a rare cinereous vulture that made two meme-worthy failed attempts at getting off the ground this week.

The bird crash-landed near a Singapore park in exhaustion on December 29 after making a detour from its usual migratory route and has been recovering under the care of the staff at the local Jurong Bird Park. Staff attempted to release the animal on January 4, but the bird failed to take to the air.

In a video from Singaporean media outlet Mothership, the bird flaps its wings and attempts to get off the ground, to no avail.

Mothership reported that a bird keeper attempted to give the vulture a 30-second pep-talk, but that didn't work either, prompting its caretakers to pack up for the day.

On Thursday, local authorities waited around for about three hours for the bird to make a second flight attempt.

This time, the bird flew for around 150 feet before plopping back onto the ground.

Singapore's National Parks Board and the Mandai Wildlife Group told Mothership this week that the bird's second release attempt was "promising" because it actually made it into the air for the first time since its rescue. The organizations added that they would be looking for another opportunity to release the vulture and send it back on its migratory path when the time is right.

Speaking to Singaporean broadsheet The Straits Times, Xie Shangzhe, a deputy vice-president at the local Mandai Wildlife Group, said the vulture was likely exhausted from flying long distances. Xie said, however, that no injuries had been detected on the bird when it was examined.

Cinereous vultures are on the International Union for Conservation of Nature's red list of threatened species. They are known to be heavy and large raptors and live in forested hilly and mountainous areas. According to the Denver Zoo, they have been found in southern and eastern Europe, the Middle East, Central Asia, and also in Mongolia and southern China. Cinereous vultures have also been spotted on Mount Everest at altitudes of up to 23,000 feet.