NEW WORLD VULTURES   -   CATHARTIDAE

Turkey Vulture Cathartes aura (ssp?) Zipolite, Oaxaca state, Mexico. Juvenile. Both resident and migratory races occur in Mexico. I'm uncertain of whcih one this is. (S5)

Turkey Vulture Cathartes aura ruficollis Logroño, Morona-Santiago province, Ecuador. (S6)

Lesser Yellow-headed Vulture Cathartes burrovianus urubitinga Transpantanal Highway km 20, Mato Grosso state, Brazil. This species occurs widely in savanna areas of the Neotropics, as well as along larger rivers in the Amazon system. It avoids densely forested areas. (S6)

Lesser Yellow-headed Vulture Cathartes burrovianus urubitinga Transpantanal Highway km 20, Mato Grosso state, Brazil. (S6)

Lesser Yellow-headed Vulture Cathartes burrovianus urubitinga Transpantanal Highway km19, Mato Grosso state, Brazil. From below, the flight feathers have a rather bright silvery sheen. (S6)

Greater Yellow-headed Vulture Cathartes melambrotus Cristalino Jungle Lodge, Mato Grosso state, Brazil. The common vulture of forested areas of the Amazon basin, as well as the Orinoco drainage and the Guianas. (S6)

Greater Yellow-headed Vulture Cathartes melambrotus Cristalino Jungle Lodge, Mato Grosso state, Brazil. Compared to the Lesser Yellow-headed Vulture C. burrovianus, this species has less silvery flight feathers from below, and some of the inner primaries are contrastingly darker. (S6)

Black Vulture Coragyps atratus brasiliensis Transpantanal Highway, Mato Grosso state, Brazil. A bit of a gruesome shot, feasting on a dead caiman. Fortunately this is a natural setting. Most Black Vultures now seem to be found in urban settings where unnatural concentrations gather at landfills, polluted rivers, or even just piles of garbage collecting around poor slums. (D2)

Black Vulture Coragyps atratus brasiliensis Logroño, Morona-Santiago province, Ecuador. (S6)

King Vulture Sarcoramphus papa Gareno Lodge, Napo province, Ecuador. A fabulously ornate bird found in tropical lowland forest (both wet and dry) throughout almost all of the neotropics. (D3)

Andean Condor Vultur gryphus Above Papallacta Lake, Napo province, Ecuador. A magnificent bird, usually thought of as the largest bird in the world capable of flight. It can weight over 12 kg with a 3 m wingspan. In northern South America it has become increasingly rare, and was even extirpated from Venezuela. Farther south, especially in the uninhabitable mountains of Chile and Argentina, it is still fairly common. This individual flew in and landed on this ledge at about 3pm, and probably was going to roost there over night. (D1)