Hooded Vulture Necrosyrtes monachus Scientific name definitions

54–56 cm (1 Ferguson-Lees, J., and D. A. Christie (2001). Raptors of the World. Christopher Helm, London, UK. Close ); 1500–2600 g; wingspan 150–180 cm (1 Ferguson-Lees, J., and D. A. Christie (2001). Raptors of the World. Christopher Helm, London, UK. Close ). Small vulture with long thin bill and pink face that can flush bright purple. Sexes alike. Juvenile usually with a pale blue face and hood of short down with dark-brown rather than beige feathers; similar to juvenile Neophron percnopterus, but head has covering of down, as opposed to contour feathers, and tail not pointed. Resembles <em>Torgos tracheliotos</em>  most closely overall but is much smaller and finer-billed.

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Sub-Saharan Africa from Senegal and S Mauritania E through S Niger and Chad to S Sudan, Ethiopia and W Somalia, S (away from densely forested areas and continuous desert) to N Namibia and Botswana, Zimbabwe, Mozambique and NE South Africa.

Mainly open woodland and savanna, also forest edge ; generally absent from desert and dense forest, except where enters secondary forest, clearings, settlements and urban areas, in W & NE Africa, as commensal with man. Occasionally visits deserts and can be quite common in coastal areas with large numbers of people, especially in W Africa.

Probably sedentary in most areas, but may range over 200 km when not breeding, especially juveniles. No regular movements reported except for Jun–Sept wet-season extension into S Sahara in W Africa. Recorded very occasionally in NE Sudan, including one record at coastal mangrove in Suakin Archipelago (2 Bird, J.P. and Blackburn, T.M. (2011). Observations of large raptors in northeast Sudan. Scopus. 31: 19–27. Close ). Vagrant in Morocco.

Carrion and some small insects, including termites (3 Bussière, E. and Wijers, M. (2013). Foraging frenzy: more than 50 raptors at a termite swarm. Ornithological Observations. 4: 11-18. Close ); also food scraps and excreta around human habitation. Occasionally feeds on fruits of oil palms (Elaeis guineensis) (4 Barlow, C.R. (2004). The utilization of oil-palm kernel by Necrosyrtes monachus in The Gambia. Vulture News. 51: 60- 62. Close ). Locates small items from low flights, which are early compared with those of larger vultures. Gregarious at larger carcasses but unable to compete with larger species , usually taking scraps and fighting with conspecifics around edges of the fray. From observations of occurrence patterns of vultures at 163 carcasses over eight-year period in Masai Mara National Reserve, in Kenya, this species arrived early at predator kills, but late at natural-death carcasses (latter preferred by Gyps species), and was low in dominance order (5 Kendall, C., Virani, M.Z., Kirui, P., Thomsett, S. and Githiru, M. (2012). Mechanisms of coexistence in vultures: understanding the patterns of vulture abundance at carcasses in Masai Mara National Reserve, Kenya. Condor. 114(3): 523-531. Close ). Uses relatively fine bill to pick meat from between bones after larger species have left, and to extract insects from soil and dung. Follows hunting African wild dogs (Lycaon pictus), presumably to feed on their kills (6 Stapelkamp, B. (2011). Hooded Vulture associating with hunting wild dogs. Honeyguide. 57(2): 128-129. Close ). 

Often silent (1 Ferguson-Lees, J., and D. A. Christie (2001). Raptors of the World. Christopher Helm, London, UK. Close ). At nest and while feeding, gives thin, quiet squeals, chittering sounds  , and barks  .

In W Africa and Kenya breeds throughout year, especially Nov–Jul (1 Ferguson-Lees, J., and D. A. Christie (2001). Raptors of the World. Christopher Helm, London, UK. Close ); otherwise, laying usually after rainy season, Oct–Mar (sometimes to Jun) in NE Africa, Jan and Apr–Jul in much of E Africa, and May–Dec (mainly Jun–Aug) in S Africa (7 Roche, C. (2006). Breeding records and nest site preference of Hooded Vultures in the greater Kruger National Park. Ostrich. 77(1–2): 99-101. Close ). Builds small stick nest in upper fork of large tree, usually deep within foliage and not on crown (unlike other vulture species) (7 Roche, C. (2006). Breeding records and nest site preference of Hooded Vultures in the greater Kruger National Park. Ostrich. 77(1–2): 99-101. Close ); rarely on building or cliff. Clutch 1 egg; incubation period 46–54 days; chick has brown first down, darker second down; fledging period 80–130 days; parents alternate roles in raising offspring, for up to 3–4 months after first flight (1 Ferguson-Lees, J., and D. A. Christie (2001). Raptors of the World. Christopher Helm, London, UK. Close ).

CRITICALLY ENDANGERED. Probably undergoing extremely rapid decline. Global population currently estimated at no more than 197,000 individuals (8 Ogada, D.L. and Buij, R. (2011). Large declines of the Hooded Vulture Necrosyrtes monachus across its African range. Ostrich. 82(2): 101-113. Close ). Until recently was common to locally abundant in many parts of W & NE Africa, although less numerous farther S. In early 1990s, total population put at 200,000–330,000, but that evidently little more than a guess (1 Ferguson-Lees, J., and D. A. Christie (2001). Raptors of the World. Christopher Helm, London, UK. Close ). Information from raptor experts, as well as published and unpublished reports and individual sightings, suggests population declines of as much as 45–77% (average 62%) since c. 1960s, with indications that in some areas recent losses may be occurring very rapidly (8 Ogada, D.L. and Buij, R. (2011). Large declines of the Hooded Vulture Necrosyrtes monachus across its African range. Ostrich. 82(2): 101-113. Close ); further analysis now indicates overall declines of 83% over three generations (53 years) (9 Ogada, D., Shaw, P., Beyers, R.L., and others (2015). [Full list of authors: Ogada, D., Shaw, P., Beyers, R.L., Buij, R., Murn, C., Thiollay, J.M., Beale, C.M., Holdo, R.M., Pomeroy, D., Baker, N., Krüger, S.C., Botha, A., Virani, M.Z., Monadjem, A. & Sinclair, A.R.] Another continental vulture crisis: Africa's vultures collapsing toward extinction. Conservation Letters. Close ) BirdLife International (2015) Species factsheet: Necrosyrtes monachus. Downloaded from http://www.birdlife.org on 03/11/2015. . In Kampala (Uganda), where scavenging birds very conspicuous, present species increased between 1970s and mid-2000s (though at slower rate than other scavengers), but since then seems to have decreased in numbers (10 Ssemmanda, R. and Pomeroy, D. (2010). Scavenging birds of Kampala: 1973-2009. Scopus. 30: 26-31. Close ). Of eight raptors surveyed in SW Kenya, comparison of numbers counted in roadside transects in 1976 and 1988 with those in surveys during 2003–2005 in and around Masai Mara National Reserve revealed massive declines in abundance of this and six other avian scavengers (11 Virani, M.Z., Kendall, C., Njoroge, P. and Thomsett, S. (2011). Major declines in the abundance of vultures and other scavenging raptors in and around the Masai Mara ecosystem, Kenya. Biological Conservation. 144(2): 746–752. Close ). Main threats to this species include indiscriminate poisoning, illegal trade for traditional medicine and bushmeat, and direct persecution, including shooting (8 Ogada, D.L. and Buij, R. (2011). Large declines of the Hooded Vulture Necrosyrtes monachus across its African range. Ostrich. 82(2): 101-113. Close ). As summarized by BirdLife International BirdLife International (2015) Species factsheet: Necrosyrtes monachus. Downloaded from http://www.birdlife.org on 03/11/2015. , poachers in some areas intentionally poison vultures in order to hide their kills, but secondary poisoning with carbofuran pesticides (at livestock baits used to poison mammalian predators) also a problem in E Africa (12 Otieno, P. O., Lalah, J. O., Virani, M., Jondiko, I. O. and Schramm, K. (2010). Carbofuran and its toxic metabolites provide forensic evidence for Furadan exposure in vultures (Gyps africanus) in Kenya. Bulletin of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology. 84(5): 536-544. Close ); meat of this vulture reportedly sold as chicken in some places. Declines could be attributed also to land-use change through development, and improvements to abattoir hygiene and refuse disposal in some areas (8 Ogada, D.L. and Buij, R. (2011). Large declines of the Hooded Vulture Necrosyrtes monachus across its African range. Ostrich. 82(2): 101-113. Close ). Appears to suffer some mortality from avian influenza (H5N1), probably acquired from feeding on dead poultry (13 Ducatez, M. F., Olinger, C. M., Owoade, A. A., Tarnagda, Z., Tahita, M. C., Sow, A., De Landtsheer, S., Ammerlaan, W., Ouedraogo, J. B., Osterhaus, A. D., Fouchier, R. A. and Muller, C. P. (2007). Molecular and antigenic evolution and geographical spread of H5N1 highly pathogenic avian influenza viruses in western Africa. Journal of General Virology. 88(8): 2297-2306. Close ). Proposed conservation actions are that systematic surveys be conducted throughout this vulture’s range so as to gain more accurate estimate of population numbers and to monitor trends, and also that efforts be made to raise awareness of the species' plight and the impact which it suffers from hunting and persecution. Rates of land-use change across range should be monitored, as should the effects of poisoning on the species and its use for meat and medicine. Among possible effects of vulture declines are increased rates of transmission of infectious diseases among mammalian carnivores, because, with far fewer vultures, carcasses persist for longer, take much longer to decompose and are visited by more mammalian scavengers (14 Ogada, D.L., Torchin, M.E., Kinnaird, M.F. and Ezenwa, V.O. (2012). Effects of vulture declines on facultative scavengers and potential implications for mammalian disease transmission. Conservation Biology. 26(3): 453-460. Close ). Despite the widespread declines, the species remains one of the most abundant diurnal raptors in parts of West Africa, including the populated coastal portions of Guinea (15 Rondeau, G., Condeé, M. M., Ahon, B., Diallo, O. and Pouakouyou, D. (2008). Survey of the occurrence and relative abundance of raptors in Guinea subject to international trade. Joint Nature Conservation Committee report No. 412, Peterborough, United Kingdom. Close ) and The Gambia (16 Barlow, C.R. and Fulford, T. (2013). Road counts of Hooded Vultures Necrosyrtes monachus over seven months in and around Banjul, coastal Gambia, in 21251255. Malimbus. 35(1): 50-56. Close ); in roadside counts in the Western Region of The Gambia, up to 12·0 individuals/km recorded in 2013 and 17·5 individuals/km in 2015 (17 Jallow, M., Barlow, C.R., Sany Ang, L., Dibba, L., Kendall, C., Bechard, M. and Bildstetn, K.L. (2016). High population density of the Critically Endangered Hooded Vulture Necrosyrtes monachus in Western Region, The Gambia, confirmed by road surveys in 217213 and 217215. Malimbus. 38(1): 23–28. Close ). Not considered a species of conservation concern until 2011, when listed as Endangered; following suspicion of very rapid overall decline, and likelihood of continuing reduction in numbers, it was uplisted to Critically Endangered in 2015.