As we headed north along the coast of Chile, the flocks of gulls that clouded the sky Begin to give way to something much bigger and darker. This new Avian species has a sinister flair to its casual circular gliding, its large dark wings casting shadows across urban and natural landscapes alike. Not quite big enough to be an Andean Condor, a species high on my list of must see species, but definitely a vulture of some kind.
Nothing more than a distant ominous shape in the sky for the majority of our trip up the Chilean coast, it wasn't until our trip to Choros Island that we finally got close enough to identify these as Turkey Vultures (Cathartes aura), the most widespread of all New World Vultures*. This species is known to occur from Canada all the way south to the southern tip of Chile, being found in a variety of habitats including desert, shrub land and sub-tropical forests. As these birds feed almost exclusively on carrion (dead meat), they can often be seen scavenging within urban areas. It is suggested that it is by their keen sense of smell that they detect the gases produced by meat at the early stages of decay.
* Historically, many believed that all vultures were raptors and members of the order Falconiformes. However, recently it was discovered that the vultures that inhabit the American continents (North and South) actually evolved from a different ancestor than the European, African and Asian vultures. The apparent similarities between New and Old World vultures are not a result of common ancestry, but rather a perfect example of convergent evolution.
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