Mystery bird: Hooded vulture, Necrosyrtes monachus

Hooded vulture, Necrosyrtes monachus Temminck, 1823 (protonym, Cathartes monachus), also known as the monk vulture or sometimes as "the garbage collector" by locals, photographed at Aregash Lodge, Ethiopia (Africa).

Image: Dan Logen, 3 February 2011 (with permission) [velociraptorize].
Nikon D300, 600 mm lens, ISO 1250, f/4, 1/125 sec

Question: This African mystery bird's beak predicts its feeding habits. Can you tell me about that? Can you identify this mystery bird's taxonomic family? Can you identify this species?

Response: This is an adult hooded vulture, Necrosyrtes monachus, which is placed into the taxonomic family, Accipitridae, the diurnal birds of prey, which include hawks, eagles and Old World vultures. Oddly, this species is sometimes subsumed into the genus, Neophron, despite dramatic differences in morphology and in nesting behaviours. Further, several DNA studies do not support the supposed Neophron-Gypaetus clade, Gypaetinae, at all. Instead, these studies show that the hooded vulture is probably closer to the true Old World vultures, Aegypiinae, which includes Aegypius, Gyps, Sarcogyps, Torgos and Trigonoceps. The exact relationships of Necrosyrtes to the Aegypiinae remains uncertain, but these birds probably diverged somewhere between 3 and 5 million years ago from their closest relatives in Gyps.

The hooded vulture is omnivorous and thus, is very widespread in east Africa. Their fine bill allows them to feed on bits of meat between bones, and they also feed on small mammals, bird eggs, flying termites and other insects, worms and other spineless creatures that they dig up from the soil. They are known to scavenge from human settlements in some parts of their range. Their small size prevents them from successfully competing at a carcass, so this species is mostly seen on the periphery, fighting over scraps.

These captive birds were filmed whilst feeding at the Rotterdam Zoo. I include this video because it clearly shows how delicate their feeding habits are, and it also gives you an idea of how small they are (that's a carrion crow, Corvus corone, in the video, trying to steal a morsel):

The hooded vulture is considered to be endangered in several countries in Africa because they are being killed by humans for food and also to supply the fetish market, for mystical rites and for traditional medicine. At this time, this species is apparently not declining in Ethiopia and Eritrea.

You are invited to review all of the daily mystery birds by going to their dedicated graphic index page.

If you have bird images, video or mp3 files that you'd like to share with a large and (mostly) appreciative international audience here at The Guardian, feel free to contact me to learn more.

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