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Project Noah Nature School
Coragyps atratus
Black Vultures are large raptors. In flight, they hold their broad, rounded wings flat and angled slightly forward. The tail is very short and rounded. They have small, bare heads and narrow but strongly hooked bills. These birds are uniform black except for white patches or “stars” on the underside of their wingtips (this can be hard to see in strong light or from far away). The bare skin of the head is black.
Belton Lake vicinity.
Turkey Vultures have an excellent sense of smell, but Black Vultures aren’t nearly as accomplished sniffers. To find food they soar high in the sky and keep an eye on the lower-soaring Turkey Vultures. When a Turkey Vulture’s nose detects the delicious aroma of decaying flesh and descends on a carcass, the Black Vulture follows close behind. Although Black Vultures and their relatives live only in North and South America, the oldest fossils from this group—at least 34 million years old—were found in Europe.
Spotted on Dec 27, 2013
Submitted on Jan 11, 2014
2 Comments
I've come to enjoy both the Black and the Turkey Vultures, especially during their afternoon flyby. Every afternoon before sunset dozens soar along the lakeshore and over our house. I love to watch them go by.
As for the photos, I post from my I pad. I suspect this doesn't work on the computer, but after I post the first photos, I go back into edit, delete some of the photos, choose different ones, and post them. All the photos show up because the only way to actually delete them after posting as far as I can tell is from the computer.
I've grown to really like black vultures ... I watch a flock that lives nearby. By the way, how did you get more than six photos to load?