Black Vulture or American Black Vulture (Coragyps atratus)

They are present everywhere, in cities and their surroundings, villages, riverbanks, beaches, and islands; only dense forests are unsuitable for their wide-ranging flight. It is the first bird that piques the curiosity of visitors to the country. Not everyone is an accomplished ornithologist, so questions abound:
– Is it an eagle? Not exactly, it’s a vulture.
What is it called? Black Vulture. The Panamanian population calls it the Gallote or the Gallinazo*1. Scientists have named it Coragyps atratus and placed it in the Cathartidae family.

Photo of a Black Vulture drying its wings, facing forward on a wall — At sunrise, this Black Vulture is seeking warmth

Since it is not particularly shy, one can approach it closely, for example, during a visit to a fort in Portobelo, and the poor scavenger will then be subjected to some unflattering comments that could be summarized as:
– Oh! How ugly it is!
Personally, it reminds me more of some characters in English courts adorned with their crimped wigs. The comparison stops here; I do not wish to draw further resemblances so as not to offend these brave wigged magistrates or disrespect our useful scavenging bird.

A photo montage with a Black Vulture and a caricature — A Black Vulture and a caricature

Useful, indeed it is. Its squadrons are the undeniable auxiliaries of Panama’s cleaning services, which are sometimes, it must be said, a bit deficient. The feathered garbage collector, a distant cousin of our French large Pyrenean or Alpine gliders, will follow much the same daily rhythm. After thoroughly warming their wings feathers in the first rays of sun, they rise in groups towards the azure, their preferred lookout point*2. Hoisted to the limit of their exceptional visual acuity, they engage in unsettling observational spirals, carried by complicit updrafts. Not the slightest bit of carrion can escape their laser gaze. To make a corpse disappear in a few minutes, the “cleaners” of our cinematic thrillers find formidable competitors here; they will barely leave a few bones that will finish bleaching in the sun. The Bearded Vulture is not there to supplant them at the top of the local food chain and erase these last traces of these voracious birds’ feasts.

Photo of a group of Black Vultures sharing the carcass of a dead animal by a stream. — The good scavengers share the carcass of a dead animal.

He also likes to rummage through authorized or wild landfills, which are numerous, and does not disdain urban areas. Their presence is notorious in the capital, their observation posts sometimes showing irreverence; religious statues and even the Presidential Palace would gladly do without the accumulation of their droppings… The slight “telegraph wire from our old Westerns” aspect must give some religious or political eminences shivers.

Photo of several Black Vultures perched on statues and monuments — In Panama City, they are everywhere, like sentinels

Following the adage “if you want something done right, do it yourself,” in times of scarcity, lacking appropriate carcasses, they do not hesitate to kill themselves. Young herons, a wild or domestic duck, a newborn calf, or small sea turtles can be victims. For dessert, a dozen eggs or rotten fruit will not deter them.

To the casual observer, it is not obvious, but scientists note that, like its counterparts worldwide, the population of this vulture is decreasing. This is due to the cumulative effects of pollutants from our crops and waste in their bodies.

Back photo of a Black Vulture drying its wings, perched on a wall — After a humid night, a Black Vulture dries its wings

A small glimpse into its private life: the Black Vulture is monogamous for life, and its female lays eggs once a year, depositing one or two eggs in the hollow of a stump, sometimes directly on the ground. Incubation lasts from 38 to 42 days. The young will fledge approximately two months after hatching and can expect to live twenty to thirty years. As adults, they will measure an average of 65 to 70 cm, and their wingspan will reach 1.80 m. It is so present in the daily life of Panamanians that it is also part of certain ancestral folkloric manifestations such as the Corpus Christi parades in La Villa de los Santos.

Photo of a Black Vulture on a wall of the historic fort of Portobelo — On a wall of the historic fort of Portobelo

Finally, let’s specify that the Black Vulture has four cousins present in Panama, the best known of which is the Turkey Vulture, also called Gallote, which is Cathartes aura. Apart from the color of their head, it is difficult to differentiate them, especially from a distance. They share territories and ways of life. The Turkey Vulture is much less common.