Painted Vulture in Florida? (1 Viewer)

Mr William Bartram was an american explorer who spend a good part of his life studying the botany and ornithology of the southern British colonies in North America. People consider him as the first naturalist who penetrated the dense tropical forests of Florida.
He described in 1791 two species of vulture new to science. One is the Black Vulture, common from the US to Chile. The second one matches the description of the King Vulture almost completely except for the tail. Mr Bartrams called the bird Vultur sacra, and one of the most relevant parts of the description is its white tail, and the King Vulture we know has a black tail. He also used other names for the bird like White Eagle, White- tailed Vulture or Croped Vulture.
read more in https://watchingbirdscostarica.com/blog/long-live-the-king/

Bartram's records of "Vultur sacra" in Florida have been assessed by many (e.g., Howell 1932, AOU 1983, Robertson and Woolfendon 1992, Greenlaw et al. 2014) and interpreted as Crested Caracara (AOU1983) or even a "mythical species (Howell). Robertson and Woolfenden note that no fossils from King Vulture has ever been found in Florida, despite abundant late-Pleistocene & Holocene fossils, among which are a large number of elements from a variety of Cathartid taxa.

Andy
Andy