Hooded Vulture ( Necrosyrtes monachus, family: Accipitridae)

hooded vulture kruger national park birds The Hooded Vulture (Latin name Necrosyrtes monachus) is described in Roberts Birds of Southern Africa, 7th Edition. This bird has a unique Roberts number of 121 and you will find a full description of this bird on page 486 also a picture of the Hooded Vulture on page 481. The Hooded Vulture belongs to the family of birds classified as Accipitridae.

The map of the Kruger you see on this page shows the areas (coloured orange) where this bird has been identified. The basic information was provided by the Avian Demographic Unit based at UCT and I created the maps from that information ... the green dots show the locations of the various Kruger National Park Rest Camps

The Hooded Vulture is neither Endemic or near Endemic to the Kruger National Park. It is however a rare resident

In terms of distribution of the Hooded Vulture in the Kruger National Park you may not see it in all areas. Hooded Vulture : see above distribution map.

Hooded Vulture Kruger ParkIdentification assistance for this avian species ...

One of the first indicators to take note of when trying to identify a bird is it relative size. For example how big is the bird compared to a well known familiar bird. The Hooded Vulture is a largish bird bigger than a Pied Crow. The height of the Hooded Vulture is about 70 cms and its weight is about 2100 gms

The male and female Hooded Vulture have the same plumage and colours

  • Head is pink.
  • Eye is black.
  • Bill is black.
  • Throat is pink.
  • Back is black, brown.
  • Legs are green.

This bird has normally proportioned leg length.

Main diet items for this bird ...

The Hooded Vulture feeds on the ground mainly

General scavenger habits

Smaller animals

Aquatic life forms

Breeding and nesting habits for this bird ...

The Hooded Vulture is monogamous unless its mate dies. In the event of a partner dying Necrosyrtes monachus will seek out a new mate

The nesting habit of Hooded Vulture is to create the nest in branches of a tree or shrub. The bird lays eggs which are red, brown in colour and number between 1 to 2

Habitat and flocking behaviour for this bird ...

The preferred habitats for Hooded Vulture are: woodlands

You will normally see the Hooded Vulture by itself rather than in the company of birds of the same species.

Names of this avian species in other languages ...

Xhosa ... Unknown

Zulu ... Unknown

Afrikaans ...Monnikaasvol

German ... Kappengeier

Portuguese ... Abutre-de-capuz

French ... Vautour charognard

Dutch ... Kapgier

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For in-depth birding information please refer to these authoritative avian references ...

Robert's 7th edition number ... 121

The main reference source for this data was "Roberts - Birds of Southern Africa, 7th Edition" . Other references were "Newmans Birds of the Kruger Park" by Keith Newman published circa 1980 . Names in foreign languages were obtained from the Percy Fitzpatrick Institute of African Ornithology, University of Cape Town website , www.fitzpatrick.uct.ac.za