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Cape Vulture / Kransaasvoël ( Gyps coprotheres )



Info to follow ...

Saw 5 individuals circling above the Abel Erasmus pass when returning from KNP last week. It is a good place to see them. There's a breeding colony of about 500 strong just around the corner.

GGNP - Oct 2008. Not master photos by all means ... but proof

Seen on 23 October 2008 on the Shimuwini loop road — site of a pungent elephant carcass, so lots of vultures, but only this one standout Capie

How can you tell the difference from a white-backed vulture? I tended to ID these two species depending on location and based on probabilities (unless had a chance to see the back of the vulture on flight).

The eye is a sure bet.

Cape has a yellow eye, whilst the White-backed has a dark eye.

Note: The immature Cape has a dark eye too.

To see a Cape vulture in Kruger is a special sighting. This one was sunning itself just outside Punda a week ago. The honey-coloured eye is quite obvious in this shot.


Large view

That light eye is, like Imberbe says, the clincher, but by no means the only way to make an ID. For Cape vs White-backed:
- the "landing lights" are way larger (like the diffs between the old crown coin vs a R5-piece... for those that can remember our money prior to 1961!) and coloured reddish in a juvenile; purple to bluish in older birds.
- neck more robust... reddish in a juv, bluish in adult birds
- head and neck more sparsely feathered
- in flight the under-wing pattern is very different... less contrast between underwing coverts and the rest of the wing.
- line of dark spots on greater wing coverts...

All of these are difficult to use in isolation, and should actually become part of a combination of features when you have to make a call.

Northern Drakensberg (Catherdral Peak area) May 2010:

One of a few we saw during our stay in Marakele over the Christmas holidays. Not a great photo but it's a start. I think this bird might not be a full grown adult yet, that's if I'm interpreting the streaky underside correctly. There were some adults as well but they were too far off for even a bad photo.


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