Bobal27

Thank you, the “picture” I posted is actually a video, thanks to the quirks of my iPhone, so you guys can’t see the whiteness of the wing feathers to the underside, nor the brownness of the body feathers and wing tips. If you could see that, would that change your mind?

There was definitely more of a brown color to the wing and body feathers, mixed in with the black. According to the article I linked to, the bird he found had legs that were more turkey than Black, with the head being primarily Black, with some red. Its primaries were brown, with the remainder of its plumage being more that of a Black Vulture. Crosses between the two species have been found before, and can’t be identified by just the legs. I agree, though, that the legs are clearly those of a Black Vulture.

So, as I see it, so far, nobody is certain which it is. I did some research, and a certain vulture-banding ornithologist from Louisiana has caught (and presumably banded) what he claims was a cross between both species. Are there any experts around who can tell me if I’ve gotten the first photo of a cross-species vulture, or can point me in the direction of someone I can consult on the matter? To note: Mr. McIlhenny stated that it was caught by a trap that only black vultures visit, and exhibited many traits of both species otherwise. His article from 1937 can be found here: https://academic.oup.com/auk/article-abstract/54/3/384/5238309?redirectedFrom=PDF

The reddish around the neck was not a photo artifact. That’s why I’ve been confused, it really looked like a mix of those two reference photos.

Saw this in Richmond, Indiana, on Thursday, July 30th. It’s a bit rainy, and the plumage is a little more brown than it looks like in this image. We don’t often get black vultures here in East Central Indiana, but turkey vultures are common. This, however, clearly doesn’t have the signature redness to its head, and has darker brown to black body feathers. Have I found a cross species, possibly, or is this a known, similar bird?