Raptor Reads: 'Vultures of the World' by Keith L. Bildstein

Book Review

The vulture is often portrayed as a nuance of greed and exploitation, their character smeared with malevolence. Luckily, the work of scientists such as Dr Keith L. Bildstein are helping to shine a light on these most misunderstood of birds. Vultures are obligate scavengers, Bildstein writes, consuming the carcasses within ecosystems that would otherwise decompose and harbour disease. Vultures eliminate these biohazards by serving their ecosystems as nature’s clean-up crew.

Nelson Mandela once said, ‘education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world’. Bildstein’s latest book Vultures of the World, published in 2022 by Cornell University Press, is one such tool that we can utilise to change the vulture’s bad repute. Crammed full of information backed by science, this timely book gives the reader an insight into the curious lives of all twenty-three species vultures. The book is broken down in to seven parts:

1. Essential Ecology of Scavengers

2. Species Descriptions and Life Histories

3. Pair Formation and Reproduction

4. Food Finding and Feeding Behaviour

5. Movement Behaviour

6. Social Behaviour

7. Vultures and People

The book is complete with colour photographs of each species, putting a face to the name, so to speak. Each chapter concludes with a summary of all the key take-away points that the reader should know. It is so comprehensible that the book can be read from cover to cover, or readers can simply page through to whichever section takes their fancy. Despite the hardcover copy coming to just 244 pages, this book packs a punch. Referencing relevant case studies and recent research, Vultures of the World delivers absolutely everything it promises to. The ecology and behaviour of each vulture species is succinctly covered, with each species getting its own overview in chapter 2.

The book does read like a vulture encyclopaedia, but this is not a dense monograph that will have the reader switching off after a paragraph or two. The reader need not have any previous knowledge on vultures as Bildstein delivers the information within the book in an accessible and engaging manner; it is sure to hold the reader’s attention. However, for all the experience the author, and other raptor biologists mentioned throughout, has working with vultures, I thought it would have been a nice touch to add a small memoir element to the book, sharing stories and personal accounts from these vulture conservationists*.

Vultures of the World is book that I will read and refer to again and again – it delivers the good, the bad and the ugly in a digestible format. As the most threatened group of birds in the world, vultures are long overdue their spotlight moment and it is time for them to shine. This book absolutely deserves a spot on every bird nerd’s bookshelf. So, raptor friends, go and order your copy – you will not regret it! Happy reading!

*Bildstein was the Sarkis Acopian Director of Conservation Science at Hawk Mountain Sanctuary before retiring after 30 years. More of Keith’s work can be found on his old blog: https://thevulturechronicles.wordpress.com/2011/03/ and in his other books such as Raptors: The Curious Nature of Diurnal Birds of Prey.