Black Vulture: how to recognise it
A bird of North America and South America. Learn the marks that make it easy to identify, then practise with real photographs in Lore.
Practise with real photosAll species guides
Photo © eduardovieira17 · CC BY-NC · iNaturalist · all photo credits
- Scientific name
- Coragyps atratus
- Family
- New World Vultures
- Size
- About 64 cm
- Habitat
- Open country, farmland and towns
- Found in
- North America and South America
The key marks
Black body with a bare, wrinkled grey head, a short square tail and pale patches at the wing tips. It flaps quickly and holds its wings flat. Turkey Vulture has a red head, a longer tail and two-toned wings, and rocks while soaring.
Voice
Almost silent; only low hisses and grunts.
Good to know
It finds carcasses mostly by sight, so it often follows Turkey Vultures, which have a sharper sense of smell, to food.
Do not confuse with
Compare it with the Turkey Vulture. Look at the marks above one by one rather than the overall colour, and practise telling the two apart with real photos.
Where and when
You can expect to find it in open country, farmland and towns. It is especially common in Panama, Peru, Costa Rica and Colombia. Distribution changes with the seasons and from year to year, so check a recent local observation source before you go looking.