Greater Yellow-headed Vulture Gallery

Cathartes melambrotus

The Birds of the World website introduces the Greater Yellow-headed Vulture with this descriptive information:  Due to confusion with the smaller Lesser Yellow-headed Vulture (Cathartes burrovianus), Greater Yellow-headed Vulture was not described as a species until 1964; the two yellow-headed vultures differ in size, and in subtle differences in the coloration of the head and in the color pattern on the underside of the wing. Greater Yellow-headed Vulture is ecologically separated from the other members of the genus, occurring exclusively over large tracts of undisturbed lowland forest in Amazonia and the Guianas. With its highly developed sense of smell, it soars over forests in search of recently deceased forest mammals such as primates, sloths and opossums. In some areas where it occurs with and competes with Turkey Vulture (Cathartes aura), Greater Yellow-headed Vulture is dominant. Perhaps due to its preference for undisturbed lowland rainforest and the general inaccessibility of this habitat, no nest site has been described for this species.

I met my first Greater Yellow-headed Vulture on the morning of Tuesday, August 22, 2023.  Our Jeff Parker Tour group was headed to Fazenda Santa Tereza for a couple of days of watching birds and wildlife in the Pantanal Region of Brazil.  We were on MT-060 which turns into the Transpantaneira Highway when we spotted several Greater Yellow-headed Vultures fly overhead near the road.  My first photos were at quite a distance but I hope to get some better shots later in the trip.  For details of my Brazilian trip that include the sighting of this bird, look here.  Below are a couple of my photos of this unusual bird.

I got another look at the Greater Yellow-headed Vulture on the afternoon of August 26, 2023, while cruising on the River in the region near the Jaguar Flotel.  The bird was in flight, and flying quite high most of the time I watched it.  Here are a few of my photos from that afternoon.