We're celebrating Vulture Week because this Saturday, September 6th, marks International Vulture Awareness Day (IVAD). This commemorative day has been celebrated since at least 2009 and aims to highlight the importance of vultures and vulture conservation through education.

Vultures around the world are in trouble. Over half of the world's vulture species are considered to be threatened with extinction or endangered. What are some of the threats facing these ecologically important birds?

Poison, including secondary poisoning

Vultures feed on carrion. In some places, a primary source of food for vultures is domestic cattle. Cattle that has been medicated may be toxic to the vultures that consume them. The anti-inflammatory livestock drug diclofenac is a huge problem for vultures across parts of Asia and Africa. Lead poisoning is a particular problem for the California Condor. Lead ammunition falls into the food chain when hunted animals are left behind by irresponsible hunters. Big game poachers in Africa are also accused of deliberately poisoning vultures to help conceal the sites where their illegal poaching takes place.

Top of the pile by Lip Kee Yap (CC BY-SA 2.0) (Rueppell's Vulture)

Persecution

Some cultures believe vultures to be harbingers of death. There is also belief that vultures threaten healthy domestic livestock. These mistaken beliefs lead to direct hunting or persecution of vultures. Power lines and windmills Due to their large size and tendency to soar in flight, vultures are particularly vulnerable to power line collisions and electrocution. Windfarms placed in areas with strong wind currents may be sharing space with large birds that use these same currents to conserve energy during flight. Windfarms are dangerous for vultures and many other species of bird, especially when mills are placed close to known bird migration routes.

Collisions with vehicles

Vultures that live in populated areas often find roadkill to be an easy source of food, but a dangerous one as well. Roadside dining is unsafe and vultures may suffer the same fate as their last meal.

What can you do to help vultures?

Vultures can use all the friends they can get! Do your part to help make the world a better place for our vulture friends. You can support policies and lawmakers that favor vultures and the environment. If you know someone that hunts, talk with them about using lead-alternative ammunition and practicing wildlife-friendly habits. If you find yourself driving by birds on the roadside, slow down and be prepared to stop if needed and if it is safe to do so. Consider your own use of pesticides or any other cases of adding chemicals to the environment. Learn about the vultures that live in your area and what specific threats they may be facing. Visit local wildlife centers to learn more about vultures. You might even get to meet a vulture in person!

We're celebrating Vulture Week because this Saturday, September 6th, marks International Vulture Awareness Day (IVAD). This commemorative day has been celebrated since at least 2009 and aims to highlight the importance of vultures and vulture conservation through education.

The Andean Condor is one of two types of condor, along with the California Condor. Both of these fall under the family Cathartidae, or New World Vulture. The Andean Condor is one of the world's largest flying birds, with a wingspan that may measure over 10 feet across. Among vultures found in the Americas, the Andean Condor is the only species to show sexual dimorphism. This means that males and females have a different appearance. Mature male Andean Condors have a large fleshy comb resting atop the head, which is reddish. Adult females have dark, uncombed heads. In most birds of prey, females are larger than males, but the Andean Condor defies this rule; males are larger than females.

Male Andean Condor by Eric Kilby (CC BY-SA 2.0)

Like most other vulture species, the Andean Condor feeds primarily on carrion. They may travel 100 miles or more in a day in search of food, which includes the carcasses of large mammals like llamas, deer, cattle, and boar. Andean Condors are excellent at soaring using rising columns of hot air called thermals. Andean Condors can be found along the western mountain ranges of South America, including the Andes and the Santa Marta Mountains. Their range overlaps with other New World vulture species, and they may follow Turkey Vultures, Lesser Yellow-headed and Greater Yellow-headed Vultures to carcasses.

andean condor by vil.sandi (CC BY-ND 2.0)

The Andean Condor is a national symbol for several South American countries, including Bolivia, where it is the official national bird. Condors were revered in Andean mythology and is sometimes considered to be a symbol of power and health. Andean Condors mate for life. They reach full maturity after five or six years and may live to be 50 years old or more in the wild; a captive condor lived to be at least 72 years of age. Pairs typically raise one chick every other year. The population trend for the Andean Condor is decreasing, and the IUCN Red List considers the species to be Near Threatened. They face challenges from habitat loss, secondary poisoning, persecution, and other man-made threats.

This Saturday, September 6th, marks International Vulture Awareness Day (IVAD). This commemorative day has been celebrated since at least 2009 and aims to highlight the importance of vultures and vulture conservation through education. We'd like to focus on vultures this week through a series of blog posts featuring these important families of birds. As an introduction, here are some vulture highlights from our blog and website archives.

• We have species information for all 23 species of vulture.

• For IVAD 2009, we featured 14 Favorite Vulture Facts on the Birdorable blog.

• Our Vultures of the World map shows where all of the world's 23 vulture species can be found. This is a free printable poster download (the map is also available for purchase in larger formats).

• We've featured vultures in our Baby Birdorable series, because baby vultures are cute! Adults are dark, but Turkey Vulture chicks and Black Vulture chicks start out with white downy feathers.

• Looking for some fun vulture-themed activities for your IVAD celebrations? We've got a great selection of vulture activity pages and vulture coloring pages. These are all free PDF downloads.

Join us this week as we highlight vulture species, vulture biology and other fun vulture topics in the coming days! We're excited to gear up to celebrate another International Vulture Awareness Day!

International Vulture Awareness Day (IVAD) is coming up soon! This Saturday, September 1, people all over the world will celebrate vultures. We've launched a new vulture landing page just in time for IVAD. Here you'll find links to all of our Birdorable vultures. We've got 23, representing all of the Old World and New World vultures found in the world. We've also got free downloadable coloring pages for each of the 23 vultures. The sheets have a few fun facts about each species, plus key color tips, in case you want your vulture to be true to life! Of course, we encourage creativity in coloring, too. Check out these photos from an IVAD celebration from last year. Nice work, kids!

On our special vulture page, you'll also find six different free downloadable activity sheets. Connect the Dots to reveal vultures and complete your own coloring page image. Try to solve the Vulture Maze, or play Vulture Memory. All of the printable PDF downloads are totally free to use at IVAD activities or anywhere else! If you use any Birdorable downloads at your event, school, or at home, we'd love to see photos of your finished work! Send us photos of the pages in action, or the final result – we may showcase them on our blog!

Saturday, September 1st, will mark the fourth annual International Vulture Awareness Day, a celebration of the world's vulture species. We're marking the day by unveiling over a dozen brand new Birdorable vulture species - to complete our set of all of the world's vultures. We'll highlight the new birds in the coming days, but if you just can't wait, catch a sneak peek by heading over to our vulture "meet" pages.

International Vulture Awareness Day (IVAD) is a global event designed to raise awareness and promote conservation of vultures. Visit the IVAD website to see which organizations are participating. There may just be an event near you! And be sure to check out our collection of Birdorable vultures to see how you can share the vulture love in cute style!

Today's Bonanza bird is the Palm-nut Vulture, also known as the Vulturine Fish Eagle.

Vultures are sometimes known as nature's garbage collectors, because they mostly feed on carrion - dead animals. The Palm-nut Vulture is the exception to the rule, feeding mainly on the fruits of Raphia and Elaeis palm trees. Their method of feeding can be quite unusual, too. They hang upside-down, holding onto the fruit with their feet and using their beaks to pull off pieces to eat.

Buitre palmero - Palm-nut Vulture (Gypohierax angolensis) by ferran pestaña

The Palm-nut Vulture is rather common within its range. This species is fortunately not threatened, unlike many other vulture species.

Tomorrow's bird is an Old World finch with a bovine name. Can you guess what it will be?

The birds in the image below have a lot in common, but one of them doesn't really belong. Can you pick out the species of vulture that doesn't go with the others, and tell us what the others have in common? There can be more than one correct answer, so let us know what you think, and why! Visit the meet page if you need help identifying the birds and finding out which one doesn't belong.

For 19 days we're adding a new Birdorable bird every day as part of our Birdorable Bonanza 2011. We're counting up to revealing our 350th species! Today's bird is the Cinereous Vulture.

Cinereous Vulture from tombothetominator

Cinereous Vultures are huge birds of prey that range through parts of Europe and Asia. They are also known as Black Vultures (no relation to the American Black Vulture) or Monk Vultures. In their south European range, they are in trouble. Poisoning is a major problem facing these and other vulture species, but habitat loss and food scarcity are also detrimental to the survival of the species. Researchers from the Denver Zoo conducted a study which revealed that Cinereous Vultures use a huge range of territory. Birds tagged with wing markers similar to those used on California Condors were found 1200 miles from their point of origin. While the birds were tagged by scientists, follow-up data provided by keen-eyed birdwatchers helped to complete the study, which is on-going.

Tomorrow's bird is an Australian parrot that is named after a number.

International Vulture Awareness Day (IVAD) may be tomorrow, but we here at Birdorable love vultures all year, and we can't wait to introduce our newest Birdorable bird: the Lammergeier, or Bearded Vulture.

Lammergeiers like to eat dead things (just like people, if you think about it!), but they are a bit picky when it comes to their favorite treat: bone marrow! While they can easily swallow some bones, very large bones require a bit more work. Lammergeiers are so smart, they have a great trick to get at the bone marrow inside the bones of very large carcasses: they drop them on rocks! The bird will hold the bone and fly up high above a rocky area. At just the right moment, it will drop the bone so that it is broken or shattered by the rocks below. The Lammergeier then proceeds to chow down on the bone fragments along with the nutritious marrow inside. To help you celebrate IVAD, please have a look at our free fun vulture downloads, including an all-new Lammergeier coloring page. And check out our cute Lammergeier gifts.

Yes, vultures can be cute - our Birdorable vultures prove just that! Although vultures may be known for eating dead things, using projectile vomit as a defense measure and even cooling themselves by urinating on their own legs, these carrion-eating baldies aren't all about the ick-factor. For example:

1. The Egyptian Vulture is one of the few species of bird to use tools. It will lift small rocks in its beak and smash them into ostrich eggs to crack the hard shell. Clever birds!
2. While Lammergeiers don't use tools, they do have a clever way to get at their favorite food. They will drop large bones while flying in order to crack them into pieces. With clever strategies like that, who needs tools?!
3. Several vulture species lack vocal organs so they are only able to hiss or grunt. No screaming banshees here!
4. Several species including the Turkey Vulture are extremely gregarious. Birds will roost in large community groups which may include several hundred individuals. The vulture's motto: We Are Fa-mi-ly!

5. California Condors are especially fastidious and may spend hours a day preening their feathers. Beauty queens!
6. Courting Turkey Vultures will gather in a circle to perform hopping movements around the perimeter, with wings spread. Yes, they put on the dance moves to attract a sweetheart!
7. The Rüppell's Vulture holds the height record for avian flight, with the ability to fly up to an altitude of 37,000 feet. These birds have their place in the avian extreme games!
8. Vultures often remain inactive until the sun has warmed up the air with sufficient thermals to support soaring. These sleepyheads need the sun to get going on their day's work. I know some people like that!
9. The Palm-nut Vulture is so named because its favorite food is the nut of the Oil Palm tree. A veg-loving vulture!
10. The Cinereous Vulture is also known as the Monk Vulture, because its ruff of neck feathers resembles a monk's cowl. Even vultures get funny nicknames.
11. Often vultures gorge so much they can’t fly. Vultures know how to pig out, and they aren't afraid to do it!
12. The Turkey Vulture can glide for over six hours without flapping a wing. Another extreme avian sports contender, category: endurance.
13. California Condors and several other vulture species mate for life. How romantic!
14. The Hooded Vulture is abundant through most of its range and is usually unafraid of humans. They are sometimes called "garbage collectors" by locals. In fact all vultures are nature's original waste managers!
15. Like many wildlife species vultures have suffered from loss of habitat and illegal hunting. Several vulture species have suffered up to a 99% population decrease in India and neighboring countries due to poisoning from livestock pharmaceuticals.

That last trivia point is not actually one of our favorites, but it is an unfortunate fact. Today is International Vulture Awareness Day 2009, which promotes vulture conservation. This post is part of the Blog for Vultures carnival coinciding with IVAD09. Learn more about vultures, vulture conservation and awareness by visiting the other participants in today's virtual event. Click on the nifty badge below to learn more!