Vulture bird: description and photo

2024 Author: Henry Conors | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-02-12 02:46

The vulture is the largest bird of prey in the world. These feathered creatures inhabit almost the entire globe. The only exceptions are Australia and Antarctica. Birds prefer a warm and mild climate. Perhaps that is why the lion's share of all vultures lives in Africa.

General description of necks

The vulture does not look very attractive. These creatures have long, but completely naked necks, a large hook-shaped beak and a huge goiter. Their wings are wide and large, rounded at the edges. The tail is stiff and has a stepped structure. The legs of the vultures are rather strong and massive limbs, however, the toes are weak, and the claws are blunt and short.

Table of Ranks

Vultures are commonly called all birds representing the subfamily of vultures. There is also a separate group among them - vultures. Vultures are very similar to American vultures, but ornithologists do not bring these two groups of birds together, not considering them close relatives. The vulture family is one of the most diverse and colorful among birds. It is represented by the following types:

• African vulture;
• Griff-headed Vulture;
• Bengal vulture;
• Cape vulture;
• Indian Vulture;
• snow vulture;
• African Vulture.

It is curious that vultures also include some other genera of birds, representing the subfamily of vultures, and a separate group - American vultures. Representatives of the vulture subfamily include:

• eared vultures;
• black vultures;
• gray vultures;
• brown vultures;
• bald vultures;
• condors;
• crest bars.

It is worth noting that the latter are the most noble creatures of the entire family of scavengers. As mentioned above, the so-called vultures represent a special genus. They differ from their relatives in their elongated but weak beak, long goose neck and powerful limbs.

Ornithologists refer to the family of hyphae and the favorite bird of all Native Americans - the condor. The fact is that at one time the Indians had fun with the help of condors: they caught these birds, tied them to the backs of bulls and watched how the ungulate tries to throw off the carrion pecking at its back.

By the way, in the South American country of Peru, urubi, or black vultures, are in great demand among the local population. These birds are very trusting creatures and are not at all afraid of people. Urubi are taken under the strictest protection by local laws, as they are a kind of cleaners: they clean the streets of cities from excessive dirt.

What do vultures eat?

Vulture –a bird of prey, or rather a scavenger. These birds rarely attack living creatures, preferring to feed on the corpses of animals. Only sometimes, during a painful famine, vultures dare to attack living animals. However, even in this case, the birds try to choose the weakest or sickest creatures.

Scientists who have observed the behavior of these birds say that the vulture is most likely to peck at the corpses of mammals, but in some cases it does not neglect reptiles, fish, and even its relatives - other birds. It is curious that, for example, in India, vultures peck with pleasure the corpses of people who, according to custom, were thrown into the Ganges River after death.

Vultures lifestyle

The bird of prey of the vulture family is a rather agile and agile creature. These creatures walk easily, moving with short but quick steps. Vultures also fly well, only slowly, but this does not prevent them from climbing to great heights. Scavengers are not deprived of excellent vision either: vultures look out for their prey from fairly high altitudes.

Ornithologists scoff at vultures for their quick wit: they really are deprived of this. Some dullness, inherent in them by nature, awarded them with a number of certain negative qualities. Not only is the vulture bird timid, imprudent, rather quick-tempered and extremely irritable, it is also arrogant, and even cowardly! In addition to this, it should be noted that vultures are also famous for their inexplicable ferocity.

For the lion's share of the time, these birds wander around the globe, and then suddenly appear in huge numbers in places where they had not appeared for several months before. It is curious that while some types of vultures can calmly walk along city and village streets, while others try in every possible way to avoid meeting people and do not appear near human settlements at all.

Vulture Nest

The bird of the vulture family is nesting. These creatures settle directly in the nests that they build with the onset of spring. Most representatives of this group of birds choose dense forests or impregnable rocks for nesting. Their nests are a kind of durable buildings, reminiscent of the nests of any other birds of prey. The clutch usually consists of 1-2 eggs. The chicks hatch completely helpless. They adapt to an independent life only after a few months.