Black Vulture in Costa Rica 

Scavenger of the Americas from the southern United States and in all regions of South America except southern Peru, southwest Bolivia and the Andes. Here in Costa Rica they are very common and clean up any dead animals and refuse quickly. On garbage collection days, they flock in anticipation of scraps, like gulls around a fishing boat. 

Top and below: Black Vulture


Black Vultures - masters of the air and nature's clean-up specialists. Locals tell of incidents of horses dying and the whole animal being reduced to a skeleton in the same day. This phenomenon prevents and limits the spread of disease. 



Black Vultures are not to be confused with the European Black Vulture - also known as Black Vulture or Monk Vulture - a bird that sends European twitchers scurrying to the Balearic Islands, in particular Mallorca, every year. New world vultures possess highly developed senses, some of them unique. Birds typically have no nose or ability to sense odors and cannot smell their environment. There are, however, a few exceptions, these are the group of raptors known to science as New World Vultures. This ability to smell carrion leads the birds to their food. Turkey Vultures have the keenest odor receptors and tend to fly lower than their cousins the Black. They soar higher, observing the movement of the cousin below following them to a meal - where they all gather to feed on a carcass. The collective noun for Vultures is committee. I will resist any obvious temptation to anthropomorphize out of respect for the bird. In flight the noun is a kettle of Vultures. In the air Turkey Vultures are masters of flight utilizing thermals gracefully. Aesthetically, they are not necessarily the most handsome of creatures on the ground. Although features that give them their distinct facial characteristics, e.g. the bare featherless head, have evolved to make preening and cleaning easier. These birds do reach into body cavities of carcasses, where there is quite an amount of sticky fluids that attach if touched.     

Vultures can reduce a horse to bones in a few hours 

Close to the ground Black Vultures use their powered flight involving some wing flapping  

Turkey Vulture 
On the ground and sunbathing (below) UV rays help control feather bacteria

The Turkey Vulture is the other common new world vulture and master of the air, skillfully utilizing the thermals to fly with absolute minimum effort. 



The graceful flight of the Turkey Vulture