How to Identify aBlack Vulture
Coragyps atratus · 23.6–26.8 in (60–68 cm)
Male vs. female
Male
Sooty black with a bare wrinkled gray head, short square tail and silvery patches near the wingtips. Sexes look alike.
Female
Identical to the male in the field.
Male photo: Charles J. Sharp / Wikimedia, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Second photo: no rights reserved / Wikimedia, CC0
Field marks
- Wings held flat, not in a V
- White patches restricted to the wingtips
- Very short square tail barely past the wings
- Bare gray head, not red
Similar species
What it sounds like
Silent apart from hisses and grunts — it has no voice box.
Behaviour that gives it away
Cannot smell carrion well, so it watches Turkey Vultures find food by scent and then muscles in as a group.
Habitat & range
Open country, farmland, roadsides and towns across the Southeast, expanding north.
When you'll see it
Present all year in southeastern, eastern and central North America.
What it eats
Carrion, refuse and occasionally very young or helpless live animals.
Did you know?
It has a poor sense of smell and relies on following Turkey Vultures to carcasses, then displacing them by weight of numbers.
Spot one yourself?
Point your camera at any bird and Aviarist identifies it in seconds — then logs it to your life list.
Get Aviarist on Google Play
More backyard birds
_Peten.jpg){kind=link}
Other apps we make
