Palm-nut Vulture - BirdForum Opus

Photo by Steve G
Baboon Island, Central River Division, The Gambia.

Gypohierax angolensis

Identification

Adult is mainly white, black scapulars, secondaries and wing coverts. Black tail, white terminal band. Yellow iris, grey cere, face and feet orange-red. Immaturees are brown, pale yellow rump. It takes 3-4 years to acquire adult plumage. Adults sometimes are stained buffy-brownish, but differ in having primaries with very short black tips, more extensive black in subadult and younger birds.
Males slightly smaller than females.

Distribution

Photo by Steve G
Mandina Bolong, Mandina lodges, Makasutu, The Gambia.

Sub-Saharan Africa.

Taxonomy

This is a monotypic species^[1].

Habitat

Tropical rainforest, mangrove swamps, heavily-wooded savanna areas and palm plantations.

Behaviour

Its diet includes mainly the fruit of Oil Palm Elaeis guineensis; also dead fish, dates, crab, snails and molluscs.

They build nests high up in large trees, made of sticks. The nest can be 1 metre wide and .5 metre deep. I egg is laid, which is heavily marked with dark brown and chocolate, with lilac and pale brown undermarkings. Incubation takes about 44 days. The fledging period is long, frequently more than 90 days, giving a total breeding cycle time of about five months.

References

1. Clements, J. F., T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, D. Roberson, T. A. Fredericks, B. L. Sullivan, and C. L. Wood. 2016. The eBird/Clements checklist of birds of the world: v2016, with updates to August 2016. Downloaded from http://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/download/
2. Birdforum thread discussing aging of this species

• List of references

Recommended Citation

• BirdForum Opus contributors. (2024) Palm-nut Vulture. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 4 May 2024 from https://www.birdforum.net/opus/Palm-nut_Vulture

External Links

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