Coragyps atratus
Black Vultures are large, black birds with short necks lacking feathers, pale bills, short, squared tails, and gray legs. Their wings are white tipped.
On the Fourth of July, I was delighted to photograph an immature Black Vulture shortly after sunrise at Sequoyah National Wildlife Refuge in Oklahoma.
Last week, I was thrilled to take my first Black Vulture photos at Tishomingo National Wildlife Refuge, and some were portraits of the vultures that I found.
Today is International Vulture Awareness Day 2023. I admit to having a soft spot for vultures because they are often misunderstood, and because I tend to stand up for those who have no voice.
This young Black Vulture in a tree cavity nest made me happy dance yesterday morning at Sequoyah NWR when it was close to the entrance of the nesting cavity.
Vultures and condors are scavengers and help to clean up the environment by consuming carrion, road kill and gut piles left from the kills of human and non-human hunters.
Sure, vultures aren't are handsome as Bald Eagles but they do serve an ecological function of cleaning up carrion so in essence they are nature's recyclers.