Amazonian Vultures Dip for Sashimi: a Novel Foraging Behaviour for Cathartidae

New World vultures (Cathartidae) are well-known for feeding on dead aquatic animals, especially fish, and two cathartid species wade into water or plunge from riverbank to take live fish. Herein, we describe a foraging behaviour of two species of the genus Cathartes , which dip into water while airborne to pick floating fish pieces resulted from human or dolphin fishing activity. The vultures spot the floating fish portion, land on water, pick the piece keeping the wings open to avoid sinking, and take off with the food in bill. This gull-like fishing behaviour is a novelty among Cathartidae and adds to the foraging strategies of these obligate scavengers.