The Hooded Vulture, Necrosyrtes monachus, is typical vulture, with a bald pink head and a greyish “hood”. It has fairly uniform dark brown body plumage. It has broad wings for soaring and short tail feathers. It is a small species compared to most vultures.

It breeds in a stick nest in trees (often in palms) in much of sub -saharan Africa, laying one egg. These birds form loose colonies and the population is mostly resident.

It is a scavenger, feeding mostly from carcasses of dead animals and waste which it finds by soaring over savannah and around human habitation, including waste tips and abattoirs.

This vulture is typically unafraid of humans, and frequently gathers around habitation. It is sometimes referred to as the “garbage collector” by locals. Of all the Old World vultures the Hooded Vulture has best adapted to live alongside man. In Nigeria, West Africa its numbers are declining because they are being hunted down for use by traditional healers.