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Black vulture (Coragyps atratus) on the beach at Tarcoles

Swarms of these scavengers can be seen all over Costa Rica. And on the beach there was certainly plenty of detritus for them to go through. Whereas Old World vultures locate their food by sight, New World birds, more closely related to storks actually, use their sense of smell. They can even detect meat buried in the soil from the sky. Their ability to soar is more limited than in turkey vultures and they are thus restricted to warmer climates than the latter. They are only found in the southern United States and from there, south to Argentina.

Photographing a black bird on a black beach poses problems, but fortunately, the light was right on this occasion.

170317 169

 

500mm / 400th / f11 / iso400

 

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Uploaded on April 7, 2017
Taken on March 17, 2017