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Black Vulture and Crested Caracara displaying odd behavior
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Feb 22, 2019 14:57:06   #
bajadreamer Loc: Baja California Sur
 
I watched these two birds for about 10 minutes in southern Mexico. Both are carrion eaters and apparently they groom each other. I have seen Black Vultures groom each other, but have never seen two different species engaging in this behavior. This is one of a series of pictures I took displaying the behavior.


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Feb 22, 2019 16:11:33   #
SkyKing Loc: Thompson Ridge, NY
 
...really interesting behavior...

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Feb 22, 2019 17:15:44   #
rwilson1942 Loc: Houston, TX
 
I've encountered this behavior here in Texas.

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Feb 22, 2019 17:57:08   #
bajadreamer Loc: Baja California Sur
 
rwilson1942 wrote:
I've encountered this behavior here in Texas.


I will be coming to Mission, TX for a couple of months early in 2020. Anxious to see some of your Texas birds and maybe similar behaviors or poses.

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Feb 22, 2019 22:46:08   #
Swamp-Cork Loc: Lanexa, Virginia
 
Great catch!

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Feb 22, 2019 23:47:45   #
kpmac Loc: Ragley, La
 
Awesome capture. I would have never expected that. I hope they don't breed, that would make a really odd looking bird!

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Feb 23, 2019 07:02:08   #
Dalek Loc: Detroit, Miami, Goffstown
 
Genetics...the black vulture may be 47% caracara and vice versa

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Feb 23, 2019 08:03:11   #
water falls Loc: Green Bay,Wi
 
Great shot!

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Feb 23, 2019 08:20:14   #
Nalu Loc: Southern Arizona
 
That is really interesting behavior but to me very surprising. Preening amount different individuals of the same species is guess in not too unusual and usually indicates some type of social behavior. But preening between different species I suspect is highly unusual. I'm wondering whether the Vulture is going after some parasite or something on the Caracara. I have no clue what is really going on. Perhaps there are some animal behaviorists on this blog who can shed some light.

Fun photo, thanks.

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Feb 23, 2019 08:47:09   #
bajadreamer Loc: Baja California Sur
 
Thank you everyone for the comments. One other thing that I found unusual about this situation is the lack of other Black Vultures in the area. Usually when I see one BV, I see a bunch of them. These were the only 2 birds in the area.

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Feb 23, 2019 09:39:06   #
Nalu Loc: Southern Arizona
 
This is a quote from Wikipedia provided by a biologist/ornithologist/bird photograph who has a bird photography blog I follow:

“In most cases, allopreening involves members of the same species, although some cases of interspecific allopreening are known; the vast majority of these involve icterids, though at least one instance of mutual grooming between a black vulture and a crested caracara has been documented.”

Seems like you have captured some pretty unusual behavior and there may be those who would be interested in seeing this documentation of this behavior. You may want to provide the Audubon Society. It may be of value to some so I would be careful to protect the image if you feel like it.

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Feb 23, 2019 10:15:37   #
bajadreamer Loc: Baja California Sur
 
Nalu wrote:
This is a quote from Wikipedia provided by a biologist/ornithologist/bird photograph who has a bird photography blog I follow:

“In most cases, allopreening involves members of the same species, although some cases of interspecific allopreening are known; the vast majority of these involve icterids, though at least one instance of mutual grooming between a black vulture and a crested caracara has been documented.”

Seems like you have captured some pretty unusual behavior and there may be those who would be interested in seeing this documentation of this behavior. You may want to provide the Audubon Society. It may be of value to some so I would be careful to protect the image if you feel like it.
This is a quote from Wikipedia provided by a biolo... (show quote)


Thank you for that information. Yes, I will send that into Audubon. I have a series of photos over about 5' that depict the ongoing behavior.

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Feb 23, 2019 10:19:59   #
phv Loc: Goleta, California
 
Very interesting!

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Feb 23, 2019 11:53:26   #
Feiertag Loc: British Columbia, Canada
 
Cool.

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Feb 23, 2019 16:05:08   #
LennyP4868 Loc: NJ
 
seems they like each other nice catch

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