Hooded Vultures assemble

There’s a corpse in the long grass. We think it’s the remains of a Buffalo.

That means Hooded Vultures, Necrosyrtes monachus, are assembling:

What astonishing birds they are.

The International Union for Conservation of Nature has rated the Hooded Vulture’s conservation status as ‘critically endangered’.

They have a pinkish-white face which flushes red when they are agitated. I think this corpse is enough to get this one agitated.

Their bill is thin and has a huge tearing hook at the end of it. They are quite small vultures, certainly a lot smaller than the huge Griffon Vultures I photographed in Bulgaria earlier in the year.

Is it just me who thinks their heads look like Turkeys?

I like the way you can see their ears.

They suffer from poisoning, hunting, loss of habitat, and collisions with electricity wires. 85% of their population in some countries has disappeared in the last 50 years.

This one flies towards me with a large hunk of meat it has stripped from the carcass.

What an amazing experience.