Sarcoramphus papa
Silhouette: Andy Wilson · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~10% in a week ~30%
The king vulture (Sarcoramphus papa) is a large bird found in Central and South America. It is a member of the New World vulture family Cathartidae. This vulture lives predominantly in tropical lowland forests stretching from southern Mexico to northern Argentina. It is the only surviving member of the genus Sarcoramphus, although fossil members are known.
Large and predominantly white, the king vulture has gray to black ruff, flight, and tail feathers. The head and neck are bald, with the skin color varying, including yellow, orange, blue, purple, and red. The king vulture has a noticeable orange fleshy caruncle on its beak. This vulture is a scavenger and it often makes the initial cut into a fresh carcass. It also displaces smaller New World vulture species from a carcass. King vultures have been known to live for up to 30 years in captivity.
King vultures were popular figures in the Mayan codices as well as in local folklore and medicine. Although currently listed as Least Concern by the IUCN, they are decreasing in number, due primarily to habitat loss. The king vulture was originally described by Carl Linnaeus in 1758 in the tenth edition... Wikipedia →
Recording
© Arthur Monteiro Gomes · XCXC488987 · CC BY-NC-SA 4.0
| # | Zoo / Centre | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Disney's Animal Kingdom | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 2 | San Diego Zoo | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 3 | Pairi Daiza | 🇧🇪 Belgium | |
| 4 | Prague Zoo | 🇨🇿 Czechia | |
| 5 | National Zoological Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 6 | ZooParc de Beauval | 🇫🇷 France | |
| 7 | Parque das Aves | 🇧🇷 Brazil | |
| 8 | North Carolina Zoo | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 9 | Zoo Pilsen | 🇨🇿 Czechia | |
| 10 | Parc des oiseaux | 🇫🇷 France | |
| 11 | Zoo Miami | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 12 | African Lion Safari | 🇨🇦 Canada | |
| 13 | Bronx Zoo | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 14 | Yumka' | 🇲🇽 Mexico | |
| 15 | Zoological Garden of Belo Horizonte | 🇧🇷 Brazil | |
| 16 | Zoológico de Brasília | 🇧🇷 Brazil | |
| 17 | Curitiba Zoo | 🇧🇷 Brazil | |
| 18 | Chester Zoo | 🇬🇧 United Kingdom | |
| 19 | Parque y Zoológico Nacional Arquitecto Manuel Valverde Podestá | 🇩🇴 Dominican Republic | |
| 20 | Los Angeles Zoo | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 21 | Dallas Zoo | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 22 | National Zoological Garden of South Africa | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 23 | Phoenix Zoo | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 24 | Wildlife World Zoo | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 25 | São Paulo Zoo | 🇧🇷 Brazil | |
| 26 | Parque Municipal Summit | 🇵🇦 Panama | |
| 27 | Africam Safari | 🇲🇽 Mexico | |
| 28 | Xcaret | 🇲🇽 Mexico | |
| 29 | Audubon Zoo | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 30 | Parque Zoologico Guátika | 🇨🇴 Colombia | |
| 31 | Zoológico de San Juan de Aragón | 🇲🇽 Mexico | |
| 32 | Colchester Zoo | 🇬🇧 United Kingdom | |
| 33 | Berlin Zoological Garden | 🇩🇪 Germany | |
| 34 | Zoológico de Goiânia | 🇧🇷 Brazil | |
| 35 | Temaikén | 🇦🇷 Argentina | |
| 36 | Gramado Zoo | 🇧🇷 Brazil | |
| 37 | Brevard Zoo | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 38 | Night Safari | 🇸🇬 Singapore | |
| 39 | Parque Zoobotânico Getúlio Vargas | 🇧🇷 Brazil | |
| 40 | Tanganyika Wildlife Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 41 | Dickerson Park Zoo | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 42 | Fort Worth Zoo | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 43 | Zoológico Benito Juárez | 🇲🇽 Mexico | |
| 44 | Singapore Zoo | 🇸🇬 Singapore | |
| 45 | Houston Zoo | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 46 | San Antonio Zoo | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 47 | Great Plains Zoo | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 48 | Philadelphia Zoo | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 49 | Potter Park Zoo | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 50 | Honolulu Zoo | 🇺🇸 United States |
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a King Vulture sighting in Tortuguero National Park on a given day, based on 174 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 148th most-seen of the 348 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 10%, and over a week to about 30%, if each day is a fresh chance.
March–May and November–January
In those months about 10% of wildlife watchers report a King Vulture in Tortuguero National Park on a given day, against under 5% in February and June–October, the lowest months.
Between 9 am and noon
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most King Vulture sightings with a recorded time, and nearly all of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
27th of 53
Of the 53 parks where we can rate King Vulture sightings, Tortuguero National Park ranks 27th at about 10%. The best odds are in Brownsberg Nature Park (Suriname, about 30%), Coiba National Park (Panama, about 30%) and Serra da Canastra National Park (Brazil, about 20%).
Same family: Cathartidae
The closest relatives of the King Vulture that you can see in Tortuguero National Park (family Cathartidae, New World Vultures) are Black Vulture (about 70%) and Turkey Vulture (about 60%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the King Vulture is recorded against all the birds logged in Tortuguero National Park (174 verified sightings from 2019 to 2026), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
