Hooded Vulture / Necrosyrtes monachus

Not a whole lot of colour about these spectacular Vultures, but I think they look interesting. Taken at the Calgary Zoo on 4th April 2010.

"The Hooded Vulture, Necrosyrtes monachus, is an Old World vulture in the order Accipitriformes, which also includes eagles, kites, buzzards and hawks. It is the only member of the genus Necrosyrtes.

It breeds in a stick nest in trees (often palms) in much of Africa south of the Sahara, laying one egg. Birds may form loose colonies. The population is mostly resident. This is of the smaller vultures of the Old World. They are 62-72 cm (25-28 in) long, have a wingspan of 155-165 cm (61-65 in) and a body weight of 1.5-2.6 kg (3.3-5.7 lbs).

Like other vultures it is a scavenger, feeding mostly from carcasses of dead animals and waste which it finds by soaring over savannah and around human habitation, including waste tips and abattoirs. It often moves in flocks, and is very abundant. In much of its range, there are always several visible soaring in the sky at almost any time during the day." From Wikipedia.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hooded_Vulture