Lappet-Faced Vulture

We recently returned from a trip to Uganda where we saw an astounding number of vultures in Kidepo Valley NP ("KVNP"). This was illustrated after we'd been there awhile and our guides spotted two lappet-faced vultures standing in a tree near the road. They would have made beautiful photographs. The guides asked if I wanted to stop for a photo and I declined, as Judy was giving me a hard time about all of the vulture photos I was taking. 

I previously posted on the lappet-faced vulture on August 6, 2014 after our first trip to Africa in Kenya and Tanzania. However, this trip provided much greater exposure, both in number of sightings and quality of the sighting. The best was a dead Ugandan kob being smothered by a scrum of vultures (my word - the vultures reminded me of the rugby players in a scrum when they are all circled, heads down and trying to get the ball). The actual words for a group of vultures like that is a committee, a kettle, or a wake (which seems particularly appropriate in this circumstance with the dead kob). However, in this scrum or wake, it was all Ruppell's griffon vultures and white-backed vultures, except for one lappet-faced vulture that was standing off to the side on a small termite mound. I got a photo of it flying in to the mound and it just stood there the entire time, never making an attempt to join the fray. 

Wikipedia states, "They are the most powerful and aggressive of the African vultures, and other vultures will usually cede a carcass to the lappet-faced vulture if it decides to assert itself. This is often beneficial to the less powerful vultures because the Lappet-face can tear through the tough hides and knotty muscles of large mammals that the others cannot penetrate...However, lappet-faced vultures frequently hang around the edges of the throngs at large carcasses, waiting until the other vultures are done, to feed on remnant skin, tendons, and other coarse tissues that the others will not eat." This vulture may have been biding its time so that it could do clean-up. 

One of the definitions of "lappet" is a fold or hanging piece of flesh on some animals. Note the folds on the back and sides of the head in the photo above. It really should be called "lappet-headed" instead of "lappet-faced." 

These last two photos aren't very good. Judy, I really could have used some more photos of lappet-faced vultures. I should have stopped. I think I was seeing more Ruppell's griffon vultures and white-backed vultures and they just kind of all got jumbled together. 

This is an illustration of a lappet-faced vulture from Birds of the World. They generally have white down on their thighs, like in this illustration. However, my photos don't reflect that. Birds of the World does note that there can be considerable individual variation and that it may be clinal (a variation between members of the same species having a wide geographic or ecological range). 

Range of the lappet-faced vulture from Birds of the World. 

It is listed as Endangered by the IUCN, which is better than the Ruppell's griffon, white-backed and white-headed vultures we saw which are all listed as Critically Endangered. They are a thrill to see, very fun to get close to and one-of my highlights in Uganda.