Massive tricolored vulture with whitish head and neck, pale brown body, and contrasting dark flight feathers. Juveniles similar but with a pale brown rather than white neck ruff. Nests in colonies on cliff ledges; often seen in loose flocks soaring over valleys and mountainsides but always in search of updrafts and thermals. Still the commonest vulture over much of its breeding range. Some populations are resident while others are highly migratory.