New World vulture
Videos
Cathartidae, known commonly as New World vultures or condors, are a family of birds of prey consisting of seven extant species in five genera. It includes five extant vultures and two extant condors found in warm and temperate areas of the Americas. They are known as "New World" vultures to distinguish them from Old World vultures, with which the Cathartidae does not form a single clade despite the two being similar in appearance and behavior as a result of convergent evolution.
Image: Turkeyvulturerange
Fossil of the extinct Breagyps clarki
The featherless head of the American black vulture, Coragyps atratus brasiliensis, reduces bacterial growth from eating carrion.
Secretarybird
Videos
The secretarybird or secretary bird is a large bird of prey that is endemic to Africa. It is mostly terrestrial, spending most of its time on the ground, and is usually found in the open grasslands and savanna of the sub-Saharan region. John Frederick Miller described the species in 1779. A member of the order Accipitriformes, which also includes many other diurnal birds of prey such as eagles, hawks, kites, vultures, and harriers, it is placed in its own family, Sagittariidae.
Plate from John Frederick Miller's Icones animalium et plantarum, published 1779, with the original binomial name
The secretarybird has distinctive black feathers protruding from behind its head.
In flight showing the long tail and legs, dorsal (above) and ventral views