The New Neotropical Companion

Vultures. Each of these two species has a yellowish

head. The Greater Yellow- headed is most commonly

seen flying over forests and along watercourses. It

occurs throughout most of Amazonia. The Lesser

Yellow- headed (plate 15- 140) avoids closed forests and

inhabits savannas and open areas.

Ornithologists have shown that Turkey Vultures

locate their carrion using both keen senses of olfaction

(detecting the odor of ethyl mercaptan, emitted by

putrefying flesh) and vision. Greater Yellow- headed

Vultures and King Vultures are suspected of also having

a keen olfactory sense. Both species are forest vultures,

and many carcasses lying within closed forest would

not be visible from the air. Black Vultures and Lesser

Yellow- headed Vultures are savanna foragers and

detect carrion visually. Black Vultures also routinely

observe Turkey Vultures and follow them when the

Turkey Vultures descend on newly discovered carrion.

The King Vulture (plate 15- 141) is the largest and

most spectacularly plumaged Neotropical vulture. It is

black and white, and its head is adorned with bright

(but bizarre- looking) orange wattles. King Vultures are

Plate 15- 137. Turkey Vultures at a deer carcass. They may have located it either by olfaction or by sight— or both. Photo by John

Kricher.

Plate 15- 138. Black and Turkey Vultures on a deer carcass. Tensions often mount among the birds as they compete for access to

the food resource. Photo by John Kricher.

chapter 15 neotropical birds: the bustling crowd 309