Black Vulture Coragyps atratus Scientific name definitions

From southern South America north to the eastern United States, the Black Vulture is a familiar sight, especially at communal roosts or along roadways where birds gather to feed on road-killed animals. Almost exclusively a carrion feeder, it spends much of the day in flight searching for carcasses. Unlike the Turkey Vulture (Cathartes aura), it lacks a highly developed sense of smell and typically does not find carrion by scent alone. However, it often exploits the superior olfactory abilities of Turkey Vultures by following them to carcasses and displacing them from the food. The sight of one vulture descending to a carcass draws others from over a large area and dozens may assemble at a single carcass. By quickly consuming carcasses, vultures play an important ecological role both by reducing the spread of disease to humans and livestock, and by limiting the population growth of other less-desirable scavengers such as feral dogs and rats (1 Markandya, A., T. Taylor, A. Longo, M. N. Murty, S. Murty, and K. Dhavala (2008). Counting the cost of vulture decline - An appraisal of the human health and other benefits of vultures in India. Ecological Economics 67:194–204. Close , 2 Hill, J. E., T. L. DeVault, J. C. Beasley, O. E. Rhodes Jr., and J. L. Belant (2018). Effects of vulture exclusion on carrion consumption by facultative scavengers. Ecology and Evolution 8:2518–2526. Close ).

Instead of building a nest, the female lays her eggs (usually two) on bare ground in a cave, hollow tree, abandoned building, or other dark recess. A pair will continue to use a nest site for many years as long as breeding is successful. The pair are monogamous and maintain a long-term pair bond. They associate closely year-round and may feed their young for as many as eight months after fledging. This prolonged dependence of the young on their parents may, in part, be responsible for the strong social bonds with kin that Black Vultures maintain throughout their lives.

The communal roost is an important focus of the birds' social life. It serves as a meeting place for adults and their young, and as an assembly point for foraging groups. It also appears to function as an information center, a site where unsuccessful foragers can locate food by following roost mates to carcasses. Aggressive interactions between adults control roost membership, in part, and these interactions may serve to limit recruitment of non-kin to recently discovered food sources.

Although its habit of communal roosting and its complex social behavior have been the subject of multiple studies (3 Rabenold, P. P. (1983). The communal roost in Black and Turkey Vultures–an information center? In Vulture Biology and Management (S. R. Wilbur and J. A. Jackson, Editors). University of California Press, Berkeley, CA, USA. pp. 303–321. Close , 4 Rabenold, P. P. (1986). Family associations in communally roosting Black Vultures. Auk 103(1):32–41. Close , 5 Rabenold, P. P. (1987). Recruitment to food in Black Vultures: evidence for following from communal roosts. Animal Behaviour 35:1775–1785. Close , 6 Rabenold, P. P. (1987). Roost attendance and aggression in Black Vultures. Auk 104:647–653. Close , 7 Buckley, N. J. (1996). Food finding and the influence of information, local enhancement, and communal roosting on foraging success of North American vultures. Auk 113:473–488. Close , 8 Buckley, N. J. (1997). Experimental tests of the information-center hypothesis with Black Vultures (Coragyps atratus) and Turkey Vultures (Cathartes aura). Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology 41:267–279. Close ), the Black Vulture remains understudied overall. Only one long-term study of breeding biology has been carried out (9 Rabenold, P. P., and M. D. Decker (1990). Black Vultures in North Carolina: Statewide population surveys and analysis of Chatham County population trends. Final report to North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission Wildlife Diversity Program, Raleigh, NC, USA. Close , 10 Decker, M. D., P. G. Parker, D. J. Minchella, and K. N. Rabenold (1993). Monogamy in Black Vultures: genetic evidence from DNA fingerprinting. Behavioral Ecology 4:29–35. Close ) and more studies of population dynamics and breeding success are needed, especially in areas where abandoned buildings are not the primary nest sites.

Both the population size and the range of the Black Vulture have expanded in recent history, and so, too, have conflicts with humans. Concern has been expressed about the threat the species poses to aircraft as well as the species' impacts on personal property, public infrastructure and, especially, agriculture, through alleged livestock depredation. There is thus a pressing need to explore new means to mitigate conflicts between humans and the Black Vulture (11 Kluever, B. M., M. P. Pfeiffer, S. C. Barras, B. G. Dunlap, and L. A. Humberg (2020). Black Vulture conflict and management in the United States: damage trends, management overview, and research needs. Human–Wildlife Interactions 14:376–389. Close ). In particular, the issue of alleged livestock depredation urgently requires empirical forensic investigation to determine the true extent of the problem and develop strategies to alleviate damage.