Well worth watching -
enjoy
<http://talentsearch.ted.com/video/Munir-Virani-Why-I-love-vulture;TEDNairobi>
The Cape Vulture
- Gyps coprotheres - is Endemic to Southern Africa and is found
mainly in South Africa, Lesotho, Botswana
and Namibia.
A large vulture
with near-naked head and neck. Adult creamy-buff, with contrasting dark flight-
and tail-feathers. Pale buff neck-ruff. Underwing in flight has pale silvery
secondary feathers and black alula. Yellowish eye, black bill, bluish throat
and facial skin, dark neck. Juveniles and immatures generally darker and more
streaked, with brown to orange eyes and red neck. The two prominent bare skin
patches at the base of the neck, are thought to be temperature sensors and used
for detecting the presence of thermals.
Calls are loud
cackles, grunts, hisses and roars.
It nests on
cliffs and usually lays one egg per year.
Monogamous
colonial nester, breeding in colonies. They nest and roost on cliffs and
usually lay one egg per year. The nest is mainly built by the female,
consisting of a bulky platform of sticks, twigs and dry grass, with a shallow
cup in the centre lined with smaller sticks and grass. It is typically placed
on a cliff ledge, often using the same site over multiple breeding seasons.
The breeding
season is between May and June with a single egg laid, which is incubated by
both sexes for about 55 to 59 days. The chick is brooded constantly for the
first 72 days, while both parents feed it. It eventually leaves the nest at
about 125-171 days old, becoming fully independent about 15 to 221 days later.
Food
Cape Vultures feed on carrion, searching aerially for a
carcass to feed on. They can eat 1.5kg at a sitting, which is over 15 percent
of the weight of an adult bird and can do this in five minutes. It slices off
flesh with the sharp edge of its bill eating it and storing some in its crop,
which can sustain it for about three days.
Conservation Status - Vulnerable
Vulnerable
globally. It is regionally extinct in Swaziland
and Critically Endangered in Namibia.
Its global population has decreased dramatically, the current population is
estimated at 8,000. This is thought to have been largely caused by habitat
loss, persecution for use in traditional medicine, human disturbance of
colonies, poisoning and improvements in animal husbandry resulting in a
decreased availability of carrion.
Birdwatching
These large Vultures can be seen on the
following Aves Birding Tours/Safaris/Adventures: -
Aves Arid Birding
Tour / Safari /Adventure.
Aves Eastern Cape Birding
Tour / Safari /Adventure.
Aves Highlands / Tembe Birding Tour / Safari /
Adventure.
Aves KZN Birding
Tour / Safari / Adventure.
Aves North East
Birding Tour / Safari / Adventure.
Aves North West Birding Tour
/ Safari / Adventure.
Aves Western Cape Birding
Tour / Safari / Adventure.