Cathartes melambrotus
The Greater Yellow-headed Vulture (Cathartes melambrotus) is a striking New World Vulture inhabiting the Amazonian and Guianan lowlands. Measuring 64-75 cm in length with a wingspan of 165-178 cm and weighing 1.2-1.7 kg, its adult plumage is entirely glossy black, often appearing iridescent in sunlight. Its most distinctive feature is its unfeathered head, which is primarily yellow-orange with a pale-yellow nape and a prominent red crown and ear patch, contrasting with a pale, ivory-colored b...
Primarily found in lowland tropical and subtropical humid forests, including gallery forests, swamps, and varzea forests, typically occurring below 500 meters elevation.
Exclusively a scavenger, feeding on carrion, primarily carcasses of small to medium-sized mammals, reptiles, and birds, located largely by olfaction.
Greater Yellow-headed Vultures are diurnal, spending mornings soaring high on thermals to scout for food and evenings roosting communally in tall, emergent trees. Their foraging strategy heavily relies on a highly developed sense of smell to locate early stages of carrion, often detecting ethyl m...
The Greater Yellow-headed Vulture is a year-round resident throughout the vast lowlands of the Amazon Basin and the Guianas in northern South America. Its extensive distribution encompasses eastern Colombia, southern Venezuela, Guyana, Suriname, French Guiana, eastern Ecuador, eastern Peru, north...
Least Concern
- The Greater Yellow-headed Vulture possesses one of the most acute senses of smell in the avian world, capable of detecting the faint scent of decaying flesh from great distances. - Its scientific species name, 'melambrotus,' is derived from Greek words meaning 'dark food,' aptly describing its ...