Palm-nut Vulture - BirdForum Opus

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

Gypohierax angolensis

Identification

Juvenile
Photo © by volker sthamer
Selous GR Tanzania, September 2019

57–65 cm (22½-25½ in); males slightly smaller than females.
Adult

• Mainly white
• Black scapulars, secondaries and wing coverts
• Black tail with white terminal band
• YYellow iris
• Grey cere
• Orange-red face and feet
  

Immature

• 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.

Distribution

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

Sub-Saharan Africa:
Western Africa: found in Senegambia, Senegal, The Gambia, Guinea-Bissau, Guinea, Mali, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Ivory Coast, Burkina Faso, Ghana, Togo, Benin, Nigeria, Chad, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Democratic Republic of Congo, Angola
Eastern Africa: Sudan, South Sudan, Kenya, Uganda, Burundi, Tanzania, Zambia, Mozambique, Malawi
Southern Africa: South Africa, KwaZulu-Natal
African Islands: Gulf of Guinea Islands: Bioko (Fernando Po)

Taxonomy

This is a monotypic species^[1].

Habitat

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

Behaviour

Diet

Their diet consists mostly of the fruit of Oil Palm Elaeis guineensis; also dead fish, dates, crab, snails and molluscs.

Breeding

They build their stick nest high up in large trees. The nest can be 1 metre wide and .5 metre deep. The clutch contains a single egg, 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. 2018. The eBird/Clements checklist of birds of the world: v2018. Downloaded from http://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/download/
2. Avibase
3. Birdforum thread discussing aging of this species
4. Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive (retrieved December 2018)

• List of references

Recommended Citation

• BirdForum Opus contributors. (2021) Palm-nut Vulture. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 19 April 2021 from https://www.birdforum.net/wiki/Palm-nut_Vulture

External Links

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