We're celebrating Vulture Week because this Saturday, September 5th, 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.

Vulture week rolls on with some cool vulture facts. These extreme facts show how diverse this amazing family of birds can be.

Largest Vulture
Among New World vultures, the Andean Condor and California Condor can both reach up to 48 inches in length, and weigh 26 pounds or more. In the Old World, the Cinereous Vulture reaches up to 47 inches in length. Female Cinereous Vultures may weigh up to 31 pounds!

Smallest Vulture
In the Old World, the Palm-nut Vulture has this record. They only grow to be about 24 inches long and weigh just around 3.5 pounds. The Lesser Yellow-headed Vulture is the smallest in the New World, reaching between 22 and 24 inches in length.

Compare sizes of Andean Condor vs. Palm-nut Vulture

Vulture Longevity Records
The longest lived Eurasian Griffon reached over 41 years of age in captivity. A captive-raised Lammergeier lived to be over 45 years old. The Andean Condor is believed to be capable of living 50 years or more in the wild. A captive Andean Condor that lived at a zoo in Connecticut lived 79 years! The longevity record for a wild Turkey Vulture is over 17 years, while a wild Black Vulture reached over 25 years of age.

Most Abundant Vulture
The Turkey Vulture is the most abundant species of vulture in the world, with a population that probably numbers into the millions of individuals.

Turkey Vultures (Cathartes aura) Preflight Warmup
Turkey Vultures by docentjoyce (CC BY 2.0)

Fastest Decline
Many vulture species in Africa and on the Indian subcontinent are in peril. The population decline of the White-rumped Vulture is an unfortunate example of this. In the mid 1980s, the White-rumped Vulture was considered to be the most abundant large bird of prey in the world. Since that time, the species has declined rapidly, losing up to 99.9% of its total population in just 20 years.

Longest Migration
Most vulture species are sedentary, year-round residents throughout their range. In the New World, the Turkey Vulture is the only vulture spcies that has regular seasonal migration. Birds that breed in southern Canada probably travel at least 1,000 miles to reach their wintering grounds to the south, traveling around 100 miles per day of migration. In the Old World, Egyptian Vultures may travel up to 5,500 miles when they migrate from their breeding grounds to their wintering grounds at the southern end of the Sahara Desert.

Ancient Birds
Relatives of vultures have existed for millions of years. Early ancestors of Old World vultures, in the now extinct Diatropornis family, existed in the Eocene epoch about 56 to 38 million years ago.

Highest Flyer
The Rueppell's Vulture of Africa is thought to be the world's highest flying bird. It has been recorded flying at an altitude of 11,300 meters or 37,000 feet above sea level!

Can't get enough of these amazing and important birds? Be sure to check out our great collection of cute and original vulture apparel and gifts.

Birdorable Vulture Gifts

T-Shirt Tuesday: Vulture Week Edition

We're celebrating Vulture Week because this Saturday, September 5th, 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're excited to offer several new apparel styles via our partner Zazzle. A new line of women's tank tops, more choices for babies and toddlers, and two all-over print styles are all brand new in our shop.

Showing off these new styles are a couple of new designs unveiled for Vulture Week.

Birdorable Vulture T-Shirts

New World Vultures (more styles coming soon!) features the seven species of vulture native to the Americas. These birds are scavengers who play an important role in keeping our environment clean. The birds here include the Critically Endangered California Condor and the widespread Turkey Vulture. New World Vultures is shown above on a Women's Bella Flowy Muscle Tank Top and below on a Baby Fine Jersey T-Shirt.

Old World Vultures features the faces of all of the Old World vultures in colorful dots arranged in rows. Unfortunately many of these species face population threats. The vultures shown in the design include the unusual Palm-nut Vulture and the pretty white Egyptian Vulture. Old World Vultures is shown above on a Men's Adidas ClimaLite T-Shirt and below on a new All-Over Print T-Shirt.

Birdorable Vulture T-Shirts

Join us all week long as we highlight the world's vulture species leading up to International Vulture Awareness Day on Saturday!

We're celebrating Vulture Week because this Saturday, September 5th, 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.

Today we'd like to share four brand new vulture-themed coloring pages with you! All of our coloring pages are free to download and are perfect for nature centers, zoos, and other environmental education locations and events surrounding International Vulture Awareness Day.

Four new vulture coloring pages by Birdorable
  1. Color our North American vultures in flight. The Turkey Vulture and Black Vulture are featured on the IVAD Coloring Page. This commemorative desgin can also be purchased on t-shirts and novelty items in our shop: International Vulture Awareness Day gifts.
     
  2. Our cute cartoon Andean Condor is featured along with big and bold letters, all ready to color on our Condor Coloring Page. This cute and colorful condor design is also availalbe for purchase on t-shirts and other gift items.
     
  3. Nature's Clean Up Crew was a new design in our shop for IVAD last year; this year it's featured as a coloring page too! Nature's Clean Up Crew Coloring Page.
     
  4. Brand new for this year is our New World Vultures Coloring Page. The seven New World vulture species are standing together in this new design which will be available on t-shirts and gifts later this Vulture Week.

Remember that we have all of the world's vultures on their own coloring pages, which you can find on our special Birdorable Vultures Page. In addition to all of the coloring pages, you can find vulture-themed activity pages for free downloading as well, including connect-the-dots images, a vulture maze to solve, a fun vulture memory game, and more.

And finally, don't forget about our popular Vultures of the World map. You can download the image or purchase the map on posters, t-shirts, and other items.

Join us all week long as we highlight the world's vulture species leading up to International Vulture Awareness Day on Saturday!

Vulture Week 2015!

It's that time of year once again -- time to celebrate the world's vulture species. The first Saturday in September marks International Vulture Awareness Day and to honor this event we are going to be talking about vultures on our blog all week long!

To start off the week, here are some vulture highlights from last year's Vulture Week celebrations.

  • And finally, we ended last year's Vulture Week with some vulture humor.

Join us this week as we highlight the world's 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!

Vulture Humor

We're celebrating Vulture Week because this Saturday, September 6th, marked 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. Happy Monday, vulture lovers! Here are some vulture jokes to kick off your week with a laugh!

Vulture underwear joke:

Q: What is a vulture's favorite kind of underwear?
A: Thermals! They're always flying in them.

Vulture airplane joke:

A vulture boards an airplane with three dead raccoons. The flight attendant says to him, "I'm sorry, sir, it's only two carrion per passenger."

Vulture clown joke:

Two vultures are in a field, eating a dead clown. One vulture says to the other, "Does this taste funny to you?"

Rare vulture joke:

A White-backed Vulture, a California Condor, and a Red-headed Vulture walk into a bar. The bartender says, "This is amazing, I better call the Audubon Society!"

Do you know any vulture jokes? Share them with us in the comments! In the meanwhile, have a great week, everyone, and remember to always...

Keep Calm and Carrion

We're celebrating Vulture Week because this Saturday, September 6th, marked 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.

Birdorable Palm-nut Vulture

Palm-nut Vultures are unusual among vultures and even among other birds of prey in that vegetable matter is a regular part of their diet. It is estimated that up to 65% of the diet of adult Palm-nut Vultures is made up of palm fruits, wild dates, and other plant material. In juvenile birds, this may be up to 90%! Their method of feeding on palm nut fruits is quite unusual. Palm-nut Vultures sometimes hang upside-down, holding the fruit in their talons, and using their beaks to pull off pieces to eat.

PNV Upside Down

The remainder of the Palm-nut Vulture's diet consists of prey items like fish, crabs, small mammals, reptiles, and other birds. They are sometimes known by the name "Vulturine Fish Eagle." Palm-nut Vultures on feed on carrion occasionally. Palm-nut Vultures live in parts of Africa. Their range, which overlaps with the oil and raffia palm, is widespread; they can be found as far north as The Gambia and Kenya, and as far south as South Africa. Palm-nut Vultures are resident birds throughout their range; they may disperse seasonally but they are not migratory. During breeding season, they build (or reuse and improve) a large nest made of sticks in a tall tree. A single egg is laid per season and both parents incubate and care for the egg and for the growing chick.

buitre palmero (retrato) - Palm-nut Vulture
Palm-nut Vulture by Ferran Pestaña (CC BY-SA 2.0)

Male and female Palm-nut Vultures look alike. Females average slightly larger than males, as is typical for most birds of prey. An adult's plumage is all white, with black feathers on the wings and an orange-red patch of bare skin on the face. Since they do not feed primarily on carrion, they have a more fully feathered head than other vultures. Palm-nut Vultures may live up to 27 years in captivity.

Palm-nut Vulture Gifts

We're celebrating Vulture Week because today marks International Vulture Awareness Day! This commemorative day has been celebrated since at least 2009 and aims to highlight the importance of vultures and vulture conservation through education.

Why are vultures bald?

Bald VultureWhen vultures feed on animal carcasses, they may poke their heads into some messy spots to pick out yummy bits to eat. Having a bald head means that they won't get dirty feathers at mealtime, saving them from picking up nasty bacteria and carrying it around in their heads. Vultures may also regulate their body temperature by adjusting the amount of bare skin that's exposed to the environment. Some vultures do have feathers on their heads, like the Lammergeier and Palm Nut Vulture. Carrion is not the main source of food for these species.

 

How can I tell the difference between Black Vultures and Turkey Vultures?

Both of these New World vultures can be found throughout much of Central and South America. In North America, both Turkey and Black Vultures occur in the southeast. There are a few ways to tell the species apart. Black Vultures are smaller than Turkey Vultures. Turkey Vultures have red heads; the Black Vulture's head is very dark grey. While soaring, Turkey Vultures fly with their wings in a slight V-shape, known as a dihedral angle. The entire trailing edge of the Turkey Vulture's wing is light grey or white. In the Black Vulture, only the very outer flight feathers appear white.

Differences between Black Vulture and Turkey Vulture

Why are vultures endangered?

Vultures around the world are facing various threats. Yesterday we covered some of these threats in our blog post Threats Facing Vultures.

Are vultures and buzzards the same?

The short answer is no. Technically speaking, vultures and buzzards belong to very different families of birds. Vultures are large carrion-eating birds. Buzzards are buteos -- North America's Red-tailed Hawk (Buteo jamaicensis) and Europe's Common Buzzard (Buteo buteo) are both part of this family. North Americans call buteos "hawks", while the rest of the world may know this same family of birds as "buzzards". In North America, a common colloquial name for vulture is buzzard. Early settlers may have called all of the large birds they saw "buzzards" -- and this common name stuck to the vultures.

I Love Vultures

Why do vultures vomit?

New World species of vulture may vomit when they feel threatened. This serves two purposes. Vomiting empties the stomach and lightens the bird if it needs to make a quick get-away. Vulture vomit is also extremely foul, and the putrid puke may serve to repel or at least distract any potential predators or threats.

Why do vultures fly in circles?

Black Vulture circlingWhen you see vultures circling above, they are not loitering in the sky waiting for a potential prey item to die. Vultures do use thermals, or naturally occurring rising columns of hot air, to assist in soaring flight. In this way they are able to conserve energy as they search for carrion.

 

Where do vultures live?

New World vultures are found in the Americas, while Old World vultures inhabit parts of Europe, Africa, and Asia. Vultures are found on every continent except for Antarctica and Australia. We have this informative Vultures of the World map available for download or purchase.

Vultures of the World Map

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
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?

Keep Calm & Save VulturesVultures 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.

Birdorable Andean Condor

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
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
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.

Cute Andean Condor Gifts

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.

Birdorable Vultures of the World Map in English and Spanish
  • 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).
Vulture Coloring Pages

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!