Belize Biodiversity Information System NAME - Black Vulture FAMILY - Cathartidae SCIENTIFIC NAME - Coragyps atratus atratus SYNONYMS - Vultur atratus - Bechstein, 1793 REFERENCES - 54, 1 and 2 National abundance, Conservation or Economic Status Reference Resident, species present all year. 40 Winter visitor - migrant. 40 Apparently secure in Belize 38 Common: high density, likely to be seen in many places 38 Resident, species present all year. 3 U.S. Migratory Bird Treaty 33 District Reference Belize 7 Cayo 7 Corozal 13 Orange Walk 7 Stann Creek 10 Toledo 4 Administrative Unit Occurrence Temporal Reference Freshwater Creek Forest Reserve Sighting Dry season 13 Manatee Forest Reserve Dry season 10 Chiquibul Forest Reserve 18 Chiquibul Forest Reserve 26 Mango Creek Forest Reserve Sighting 30 Columbia River Forest Reserve Sighting Dry season 4 Shipstern Nature Reserve 17 Shipstern Nature Reserve 29 Shipstern Nature Reserve Sighting 30 Rio Bravo Conservation Area 23 Rio Bravo Conservation Area 35 Gallon Jug 22 Gallon Jug Dry season 21 Crooked Tree Wildlife Sanctuary Sighting August 30 Chiquibul National Park 26 Cockscomb Basin Wildlife Sanctuary 34 Monkey Bay Wildlife Sanctuary Permanent 15 Burdon Canal Nature Reserve Wet season 9 Community Baboon Sanctuary 24 Community Baboon Sanctuary 28 Lamanai Archaeological Reserve 16 Mussel Creek Drainage (Proposed) 12 Private land, see comments Sighting Dry season 5 Private land, see comments Sighting Dry season 30 Private land, see comments Sighting Wet season 30 Private land, see comments Permanent 14 Private land, see comments Dry season 11 Private land, see comments Wet season 8 Private land, see comments 19 Private land, see comments 25 Private land, see comments 27 Government land Sighting Wet season 20 Government land 25 Government land 27 Monkey River Special Development Area 32 Hydrologic Association Reference New River Lagoon 35 Belize River 28 Macal River 26 Monkey River 21 Belize River 8 Mullins River Drainage 10 Macal River 11 Mussel Creek 12 Sittee River 14 Sibun River 15 New River 16 Raspaculo River 18 Elevation Reference 1-200 m 30 1-200 m 35 1-200 m 36 201-400 m 30 1:50,000 Quadrangle Reference 17 45' to 18 00'; 88 30' to 88 45' 16 17 30' to 17 45'; 89 00' to 89 15' 21 17 30' to 17 45'; 89 00' to 89 15' 36 17 30' to 17 45'; 89 00' to 89 15' 7 17 30' to 17 45'; 88 45' to 89 00' 36 17 30' to 17 45'; 88 30' to 88 45' 24 17 30' to 17 45'; 88 30' to 88 45' 27 17 30' to 17 45'; 88 30' to 88 45' 28 17 30' to 17 45'; 88 30' to 88 45' 30 17 30' to 17 45'; 88 30' to 88 45' 35 17 30' to 17 45'; 88 10' to 88 30' 25 17 30' to 17 45'; 88 10' to 88 30' 27 17 30' to 17 45'; 88 10' to 88 30' 36 17 30' to 17 45'; 88 10' to 88 30' 7 17 30' to 17 45'; 88 00' to 88 15' 9 17 15' to 17 30'; 88 45' to 89 00' 30 17 15' to 17 30'; 88 45' to 89 00' 8 17 15' to 17 30'; 88 30' to 88 45' 15 17 15' to 17 30'; 88 30' to 88 45' 25 17 15' to 17 30'; 88 30' to 88 45' 30 17 15' to 17 30'; 88 30' to 88 45' 36 17 15' to 17 30'; 88 10' to 88 30' 9 17 15' to 17 30'; 88 00' to 88 10' 9 17 00' to 17 15'; 89 00' to 89 15' 11 17 00' to 17 15'; 88 45' to 89 00' 36 17 00' to 17 15'; 88 45' to 89 00' 7 17 00' to 17 15'; 88 30' to 88 45' 30 17 00' to 17 15'; 88 30' to 88 45' 36 17 00' to 17 15'; 88 30' to 88 45' 7 17 00' to 17 15'; 88 00' to 88 30' 10 16 45' to 17 00'; 89 00' to 89 15' 26 16 45' to 17 00'; 88 45' to 89 00' 18 16 45' to 17 00'; 88 30' to 88 45' 34 16 45' to 17 00'; 88 15' to 88 30' 14 16 45' to 17 00'; 88 15' to 88 30' 30 16 45' to 17 00'; 88 15' to 88 30' 31 16 30' to 16 45'; 88 30' to 88 45' 34 16 30' to 16 45'; 88 15' to 88 30' 30 16 15' to 16 30'; 89 00' to 89 15' 4 16 15' to 16 30'; 88 30' to 88 45' 30 18 15' to 18 30'; 88 00' to 88 15' 17 18 15' to 18 30'; 88 00' to 88 15' 29 18 15' to 18 30'; 88 00' to 88 15' 30 16 15' to 16 30'; 88 15' to 88 30' 21 16 15' to 16 30'; 88 15' to 88 30' 32 16 00' to 16 15'; 89 00' to 89 15' 27 16 00' to 16 15'; 89 00' to 89 15' 30 15 50' to 16 00'; 88 50' to 89 15' 5 18 00' to 18 15'; 88 30' to 88 45' 30 18 00' to 18 15'; 88 15' to 88 30' 13 17 45' to 18 00'; 89 00' to 89 15' 23 17 45' to 18 00'; 89 00' to 89 15' 30 17 45' to 18 00'; 88 45' to 89 00' 19 17 45' to 18 00'; 88 45' to 89 00' 30 Holdridge Life Zone Reference Tropical moist-transition to Subtropical 36 Tropical moist-transition to Subtropical 30 Subtropical wet 34 Subtropical wet 30 Subtropical moist 36 Subtropical moist 35 Subtropical moist 30 Subtropical moist 29 Subtropical moist 28 General Distribution Comments 40* Common northern semideciduous moist forest. Common southern moist-wet evergreen broadleaf forests. Common Mtn. Pine Ridge/savannas on poor soil. Common coastal/low-lands savannas, inc. marshy areas. Common mangroves lowlands & coastal beaches. Common cayes inc. Ambergris. Rare sub-tropical lower montane forest. 3* Common in northern hardwood forests, common in southern hardwood forests, common in the Mountain Pine Ridge, common in coastal savannahs, common in mangroves & beaches along coastal mainland. 27* Airport Camp; Big Falls Rice Farm; Blue Creek 26* Guacamallo Bridge 25* Big Falls, Airport Camp 20* Belize City 19* Gold Button Ranch 14* Possum Point Biological Station 11* Sighted at or within 5 mile radius of Chaa Creek Cottages 8* Banana Bank Ranch 4* Recorded at American Camp References 1 A.O.U. 1983. Checklist of North American Birds. 6th Ed. 2 A.O.U. 1985, 1987, 1989. 35th-37th Supplements. 3 Wood, D.S.,R. C. Leberman, and D. Weyer. 1986. Checklist of Birds of Belize. Carnegie Museum of Natural History Special Publication 12. 4 Parker, T. A. III, B. K. Holst, L. H. Emmons, J. R. Meyer. 1993. A Biological Assessment of the Columbia River Forest Reserve, Toledo District, Belize. pp.71-78 5 Matola, S., 1990. The Dolores Expedition, January 27 - February 3, 1990. Unpublished report. 6 Hunt, H. R., J. Tamarack. 1992. Cox Lagoon Crocodile Preserve. Unpub. report. pp.4-8 7 Miller, B. W., 1994. Belize Christmas Bird Counts, Twenty Year Summary. in prep. 8 Duncan, M., W. Duncan. 1993. Banana Bank, Nov. 1, Checklist provided in lit. 9 Miller, B., C. Miller. 1993. Preliminary Avian Survey of Burdon Canal Nature Reserve. Unpublished report for the Forest Department 10 Miller, C., B. Miller. 1994. Avian Studies in the Upper Mullins River Basin, Feb. and May. Unpublished Report. 11 Carnegie Ornithological Group and Mass Audubon Ornithological Group, compilers. 1993. Chaa Creek Bird List. Unpublished list. 12 Miller, B., C. Miller. 1987. Conservation of a Critical Marsh and Lowland habitat, Mussel Creek drainage system, Belize, C.A. Report to NYZS/Wildlife Conservation Society. 13 Miller, B., C. Miller. 1994. Avian Surveys: Freshwater Creek Forest Reserve 1-10 March. Unpublished Report to the Forestry Dept. 14 Anon. 1993. Bird Checklist for Possum Point Biological Station, Sittee River, Belize 15 Anon. 1994. Monkey Bay Checklist of Birds. Unpublished list. 16 Noble, B., B. Stewart, J. Dillon. 1994. Lamanai Bird List, Mid-October 1993 - 16 March 1994. 17 Meerman, J. 1993. Checklist of the Birds of the Shipstern Nature Reserve, Occasional Papers of the Belize Natural History Society. 2(10). pp. 71-81. 18 Mallory, E. 1993. Birds of the Upper Raspaculo, Belize: JSSEUR II. Unpublished report. 19 Platt, S. 1993. Wildlife Survey of Gold Button Ranch, Belize. Unpublished report. 20 McDuffie, P. 1993. Personal Bird List for Belize: September 1, 1989 - December 15, 1993. Unpublished list. 21 Russell, S. M. 1964. A Distributional Study of the Birds of British Honduras. Ornithological Monographs No. 1, A.O.U. 22 Miller, B., C. Miller. 1994. A working checklist of the birds of Gallon Jug. Unpublished list. 23 Anon. 1994 (August). Working Checklist, Birds of Rio Bravo Conservation Management Area. Unpublished list. 24 O'Connell, S. 1987. in Horwich, R. H. and J. Lyon. The Community Baboon Sanctuary, A Guide Book. Orangu-tan Press, Gays Mills, WI. pp. 113. 25 Counsell, D.J.R., B. Etheridge. 1986. RAFOS Expedition to Belize. Unpublished report. 26 Barlow, S. C., G. B. Caddick. 1989. Report on the Status of the Scarlet Macaw, Ara macao, in Belize, Central America. Unpublished report. 27 Hallchurch, T.T., compiler. 1982. Exercise King Vulture Belize 23 Feb.- 16 March. Unpub. report for the British Army Bird Watching Society. 28 James, D., J. Bider. 1993. Bird List: Community Baboon Sanctuary, 1989- 1993 (derived from banding & census data, field notes). Unpublished data 29 Quigley, H. B., B. W. Miller, C. M. Miller. 1995. Mammal Survey, Shipstern Nature Reserve, April 4-13, 1995. Unpublished report for ITCF. 30 Robbins, Chandler. 1996. U.S.F.& Wildlife Service Wintering Bird Surveys for Belize. Unpublished data provided by C. Robbins. 31 Meerman, J., T. Boomsma. 1995. False Sittee Point, Stann Creek District, Belize. Biological and Physical Survey 1995. p. 19. 32 Meerman, J.C. ed. 1995. Monkey River Special Development Area Stann Creek District, Belize. Belize Tropical Forest Studies Publication #5. Appendix: Bird List. Unpublished Technical report for B.E.S.T. 33 Title 50 Code of Federal Regulations, Subchapter B., Part 10.13: List of Migratory Birds. U.S. Government Printing Office: 1985 0-488-794. (Lists all species of migratory birds protected by the Migratory Bird Treaty Act (16 U.S.C. 703-711). 34 Kamstra, J. May 1987. An Ecological Survey of the Cockscomb Basin, Belize. Masters Thesis. York University, Ontario, Canada 35 Vallely, A. C., A. A. Whitman. 1996. The birds of Hill Bank, northern Belize. Unpublished report for Programme for Belize. 36 Miller, B. W. 1997. Belize Christmas Bird Count Summary 1970-1995. Data from American Birds Vol. 28-50 including 1973-1996. 37 Howell, S. N. G., S. Webb. 1995. A Guide to the Birds of Mexico and Northern Central America. New York. Oxford University Press. 38 Miller, B.W., C.M. Miller. 1997. Avian Risk Assessment for Belize, Species at Risk and of Conservation Concern. Report to Programme for Belize/TNC Wings of America Program. 39 A.O.U. 1997. Forty-first Supplement to the American Ornithologists' Union Check-list of North American Birds. The Auk. 114 (3):542-552. 40 Garcia, J., S. Matola, M. Meadows, and C. Wright. 1994. A Checklist of the Birds of Belize. WWF-US. 35p.
Wildlife Conservation Society
Ministry of Natural Resources' Land Information Centre
01/19/98