Bibliography on Cathartes aura, Turkey vulture, Guatemala

Turkey vulture, Cathartes aura, especially in Guatemala

We at FLAAR (USA) and FLAAR Mesoamerica (Guatemala) have been studying all four species of vultures of Guatemala for many years. I can still remember all the black vultures in the trees over the main hotel in 1965, while a Harvard undergraduate student of architectural sciences, living 12 months in Parque Nacional Tikal while a student intern with the University of Pennsylvania Tikal (archaeology) Project.

Now that we are doing research on Neotropical flora and fauna at Parque Nacional Yaxha Nakum Naranjo (adjacent to Tikal park to the immediate west and the border of Peten and Belize to the west), we are making a list of all the vultures in the Yaxha park. So far the most common, as expected, is the Black Vulture (same one in adjacent Tikal park).

Much to my surprise, the King Vulture can be seen at Yaxha park, if you have a really experienced bird guide, such as Teco (Moises Daniel Perez Diaz).

We have had King Vultures circling over the hills in the distance two or three times during past months. Now we want to post a page on the third vulture present at Yaxha, the Turkey Vulture.

We have photographed Turkey Vulture in several areas of Guatemala

On February 1, 2018, two of us photographed turkey vultures in Manchon Guamuchal, parallel to the Pacific Ocean, south of Retalhuleu. On May 7, 2019, Maria Alejandra Gutierrez photographed turkey vulture along the Rio Ixtinto in the Parque Nacional Yaxha Nakum Naranjo. I am surprised since this is the same river where she photographed a black vulture on the early June field trip to the same river. The Lesser Yellow-headed Vulture (Cathartes burrovianus) is (so far) not found at Tikal or Yaxha or comparable areas. But I believe we have found this vulture in the Monterrico-Canal de Chiquimulilla area of coastal Guatemala (parallel to the Pacific Ocean).

Let’s start with the Turkey Vulture, #2 common in many parts of Guatemala (with Black Vulture being the most common in Peten). The King Vulture so rare that in 54+ years in Tabasco, Chiapas, Campeche, Quintana Roo, Yucatan, Belize, Izabal and Alta Verapaz, I never experienced a King Vulture until we had Teco as a birdwatching guide in the Yaxha park in 2018-2019. This does not mean all these areas lack the King Vulture, it means that since I am usually studying pyramids, palaces, temples, and ballcourts (or ants or flowers), that my eyes are looking down, not high into the sky. But when you are in a lancha crossing Lake Yaxha the entire sky is in front of you, so you can more easily see the King Vulture.

Bibliography, Suggested Reading:
PDFs, Articles, Books on Cathartes aura, Turkey vulture

As we continue to do our research on the vultures of Guatemala, here is a list of suggested articles and monographs on Cathartes aura, Turkey vulture. Obviously the vultures are pictured and mentioned in every book on Birds of Tikal, Birds of Guatemala, Birds of Mexico, Birds of Belize, etc.

ALVAREZ del Toro, M. A.
1971
Las aves de Chiapas. Publ. Inst. Hist. Nat., Tuxtla Gutierrez, Chiapas, México.

ARÉVALO, Diego and Guillermo FUNES
1971
Primer registro de nidificación del zopilote aura (Cathartes aura) en El Salvador.
Huitzil, Revista Mexicana de Ornitología. Vol. 20, No. 2. 10 pages.

Available online:
www.researchgate.net/publication/332255808_Primer_registro_de_nidificacion_del
_zopilote_aura_Cathartes_aura_en_El_Salvador

BLAKE, E. R.
1953
Birds of Mexico. University of Chicago Press. 644 pages.

COUTIÑO, Julio
2010
Abundancia relativa de un ensamble de zopilotes (Falconiformes) y su relación con las
comunidades humanas en la Reserva de la Biosfera Selva El Ocote, Chiapas. El Colegio
de la Frontera Sur. 75 pages.

Available online:
https://ecosur.repositorioinstitucional.mx/jspui/bitstream/1017/1609/1/100000034887
_documento.pdf

DICKERMAN, R. W.
2007
Birds of the southern Pacific lowlands of Guatemala, with a revision of Icterus gularis. 114 pages.

Available online:
https://digitalrepository.unm.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?referer=https://www.google.com
/&httpsredir=1&article=1010&context=msb_special_publications

DICKEY, D. M. and A. J. VAN ROSSEM
1938
The Birds of El Salvador. Zoological Series, Field Museum of Chicago. No. 23. 609 pages.

Available online:
https://ia800903.us.archive.org/14/items/birdsofelsalvado231dick/birdsofelsalvado231dick.pdf

GRISCOM, L.
1932
The distribution of bird-life in Guatemala. Bull. Am. Mus. Nat. Hist., New York. Vol. 64. Pages 439.

Available online:
http://digitallibrary.amnh.org/handle/2246/490

IÑIGO, Eduardo
1999
Los buitres mexicanos. Biodiversitas. Vol. 5, No. 22. Pages 2-16.

Available online:
http://200.12.166.51/janium/Documentos/1410.pdf

MONROY, Octavio, CABRERA, Leonardo, SUÁREZ, Pedro, ZARCO, Martha, RODRÍUEZ, Clarita and Vicente URIOS
2008
Uso tradicional de vertebrados silvestres en la Sierra Nanchititla, México. Interciencia. Vol. 33,
No. 4. Pages 308-313.

Available online:
www.redalyc.org/pdf/339/33933413.pdf

PLATT, Steven, CHARRUAU, Pierre and Thomas R. RAINWATER
2014
Scavenging of crocodile eggs by vultures (Cathartes aura and Coragyps atratus) in Quintana Roo,
México. Bull Texac Ornith. Soc. Vol. 47, No. 1-2. Pages 37-39.

Available online:
www.academia.edu/13051168/SCAVENGING_OF_CROCODILE
_EGGS_BY_VULTURES_CATHARTES_AURA_AND_CORAGYPS
_ATRATUS_IN_QUINTANA_ROO_MEXICO

RAMÍREZ, Jorge
2006
Variación en la composición de comunidades de aves en la Reserva de la Biosfera Montes Azules y
áreas adyacentes, Chiapas, México. Biota Neotropica. Vol. 6, No. 2. 19 pages.

Available online:
www.scielo.br/pdf/bn/v6n2/v6n2a18.pdf

SMITHE, F. B.
1966
The birds of Tikal. Natural History Press. Garden City. 350 pages.

TENEZ, Edgar
2008
Avifauna del Parque Nacional Sierra del Lacandón, Guatemala. Revista Mesoamericana de
Biodiversidad y Cambio Climático. Yu’am. Vol. 2, No. 3.

Available online:
www.revistayuam.com/volumen-2/numero-3/articulos-cientificos/avifauna-del-
parque-nacional-sierra-del-lacandon-guatemala/

VANNINI, Jay
1989
Neotropical raptors and deforestation: notes on diurnal raptors at finca El Faro, Quetzaltenango,
Guatemala. The Journal of Raptor Research. Vol. 23, No. 2. Pages 27-38.

Available online:
https://sora.unm.edu/sites/default/files/journals/jrr/v023n02/p00027-p00038.pdf

VÁZQUEZ, José, ENRÍQUEZ, Paula and José RANGEL
2009
Diversidad de aves rapaces diurnas en la Reserva de la Biosfera Selva El Ocote, Chiapas, México.
Revista Mexicana de Biodiversidad. No. 80. Pages 203-209.

Available online:
www.researchgate.net/publication/262543534_Diversidad_de_aves_rapaces
_diurnas_en_la_Reserva_de_la_Biosfera_Selva_El_Ocote_Chiapas_Mexico