# Survival of a Long‐Lived Avian Scavenger: Implications of Age, Season, and Landscape Composition for Mortality Risk

## TL;DR

This study examines survival and mortality in black vultures, finding high survival rates and how factors like age, season, and landscape affect their risk of death.

## Contribution

The study provides new insights into black vulture survival and how landscape diversity influences their mortality risk.

## Key findings

- Black vultures have high annual survival rates (0.95) with significant seasonal and age-related differences in mortality risk.
- 67% of mortalities were anthropogenic, and greater land cover diversity reduced mortality risk.
- Adults had 66.2% less mortality hazard than juveniles, and breeding season increased mortality risk by 68.7%.

## Abstract

Despite the ecological importance of avian scavengers such as vultures, demographic information that is essential to their conservation and management remains limited. The goal of this study was to evaluate survival and mortality risk in black vultures (
Coragyps atratus
), a protected native species of conflict management concern in the United States. Here, we combined monitoring data from a 28‐year period to estimate annual survival rates among age classes and test for seasonal and age‐related patterns in mortality risk. Using dead recovery information, we also summarized the causes and timing of annual mortalities. Additionally, we tested whether mortality risk was affected by aspects of landscape composition and configuration, as well as human development. Average annual survival was high overall (0.95, 95% CI: 0.92–0.98), with estimate precision markedly improved by combining datasets (72.1%–84.2% increase). Mortality risk differed by season and age class such that vultures experienced 68.7% more hazard during the breeding season, and adults experienced 66.2% less hazard than juveniles. Among the mortality causes, 67% were anthropogenic, 4% were natural, and the remaining 29% were unknown. Additionally, greater land cover diversity (Shannon diversity index) reduced mortality risk, whereas measures of landscape configuration and human development had no effect. High survival rates help explain this species' population growth and range expansion and further inform allowable take for sustainable management practices. Moreover, the identified seasonal and age‐related vulnerabilities may help guide lethal control of human–vulture conflicts in an ecologically relevant manner. Maintaining diverse landscapes may also enhance survival overall, facilitating conservation of this species and other avian scavengers.

The goal of this study was to evaluate survival and mortality risk in black vultures (
Coragyps atratus
), a protected native species of conflict management concern in the United States. High survival rates from this study help explain this species' population growth and range expansion and further inform allowable take for sustainable management practices.