How to Identify a Black Vulture (Coragyps atratus)

• Head pattern: Head always dark gray (not red), bare-skinned
• Wing patch (speculum): Whitish patch near the wingtips shows up in flight (unlike Turkey Vulture's two-toned full-length underwing pattern)
• Flight silhouette: Glides are often punctuated by several quick flaps, a flap-flap-glide flight style
• Tail: Short tail; rounded, short, square-tipped
• Size compared with look-alikes: Stocky and short-tailed with a bigger head than Turkey Vulture, appearing smaller overall due to shorter wings and tail; aggressively dominates Turkey Vultures at food sources

Black Vulture is stockier and shorter-tailed with a bigger head than Turkey Vulture, shows a whitish patch only near the wingtips rather than a fully two-toned underwing, and flies with a flap-flap-glide pattern rather than the Turkey Vulture's steady dihedral soar; it aggressively dominates Turkey Vultures at carcasses The Turkey Vulture page lists its own marks.

Open country, avoiding higher mountains; mostly found in flat lowlands such as coastal plain Found across Eastern Canada, Florida, the Great Lakes, Mid-Atlantic, New England, Plains, Southeast, Southwest, and Texas

Aggressively dominates Turkey Vultures at food (carcass) sources despite appearing smaller overall

Raptors are usually far away and against the sky, so expose for the bird, not the sky, and take several frames as it turns: the tail shape, wing shape and underwing pattern show best in flight. For a perched bird, get the head and chest in one frame. Size is hard to judge alone; compare with a nearby crow, gull or fence post. The app names the likely species; confirm with the marks above.