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Vulture ID please


Soukous

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I never found vultures particularly hard to identify, but this one has me baffled.

By the head and size it looks like a Hooded Vulture, but it has white legs, which suggests it is not a Hooded Vulture. 

It looks too small to be a White Headed Vulture.

 

hooded-vulture.jpg

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A hooded vulture that has been standing in something white??

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offshorebirder

Good question @Soukous.

 

As you say it seems small for a White-head Vulture.   And the bill seems much too dainty.

 

Perhaps a Egyptian Vulture transitioning from immature to adult plumage?   But even that should show a dark-tipped bill which your bird does not.

 

it doesn't seem to fall neatly into any ID category so I don't know quite what to think.

 

Question:  where was the photo posted?

 

Thanks for sharing this brain teaser.

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offshorebirder

I wondered the same thing @Tdgraves.    But to turn the leg feathers so white in their entirety without affecting belly or tail feathers would be tricky.

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N other vulture has a striking blue eye, so it has to be a hooded vulture. Perhaps it is a trick of the light (it is in direct sun)....

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@Soukous A quick Google image search reveals at least a handful of hooded vultures with white leg feathers and some that are brown and white, my guess is it's an immature and in time the white feathers will be replaced with brown ones, but without doing further research I don't know for sure. However, the photos confirm that it is unquestionably a hooded.

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Looks like the image was taken in the Luangwa valley. Lots of Hooded vultures there have white on their legs. Just a few pics from 2016 showing white legs.

Mwamba-Hooded-Vulture_G8A0304.thumb.jpg.93c769a65ab19e647b84ef53d775062c.jpgMwamba-Hooded-Vulture_G8A8745.thumb.jpg.62b2c47b8362248b38cedac755c1befd.jpg

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Thanks to everyone for their learned replies.Hooded Vulture it is. 

Yes, you are right @Geoff the photo was taken in South Luangwa.

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