American black vulture spotted in Gurugram, birdwatchers calls it “rarest of the rare” sighting

New Delhi: A black vulture (Coragyps atratus) was spotted at Chandu Budhera wetlands by a birder on Friday afternoon, created flutter among the birdwatchers in National Capital Region.

According to birdwatchers, this is a “rarest of the rare” sighting as this species has no record of being spotted in Asia or Europe till now.

Experts believe that the bird probably escaped from the clutches of wildlife traffickers.

The vulture’s range extends from the northeastern United States to Peru, Central Chile and Uruguay in South America. It has no previous records of migrating to this part of the world.

According to birders, the species doesn’t migrate beyond its territory and the sighting is probably a result of illegal wildlife trade.

Birdwatchers in the National Capital Region were surprised to see the black vulture birds and say, this is a “rarest of the rare” sighting.

The bird was spotted first by birder Anu Mathur, who then called another veteran birder, Colonel Pankaj Sharma, to identify the bird.

“I got a call from Anu Mathur, a birder from the Delhi Bird Society, who spotted the black vulture in Chandu Budhera on Friday.

She took photos and shared them with me. I immediately rushed to the place. This bird doesn’t migrate to India or any other nearby regions. It looks like someone got it as an exotic pet and it managed to escape from there,” said Pankaj Sharma, a birder.

“I looked it up online and confirmed it to be a black vulture, which is not found in this part of the world, so that makes it even more surprising,” he says, adding it is most likely an escapee which was being trafficked” he added.

The American black vulture belongs to the family Cathartidae.The species has fewfeathers that are generally black, gray or brown.

It feeds at garbage dumps, but also eats eggs, fruit (both ripe and rotting), fish and ripe or decomposing plant material.

It preys on injured newborn or incapacitated mammals. Like other vultures, it plays an important role in the ecosystem by feeding on carcasses that would otherwise become breeding grounds for disease.