A breeding resident. Foraging birds range widely across the southern half of the Waterberg but, as the map shows, there is a dearth of records from the northern half, this perhaps a consequence of food being less accessible to the birds in more rugged and more wooded terrain in the north. The Waterberg Cape Vultures are based at the large breeding colony on the Groothoek cliffs in Marakele National Park. It is one of the most significant breeding sites for this endangered endemic in South Africa and the number of breeding pairs (‘active nests’) here has been systematically monitored annually for the past 38 years by Patrick Benson. In 1983 there were 916 active nests in the colony; their numbers declined over the next two decades to a low of 579 in 2003; thereafter numbers increased again to reach 849 nests in 2017. These vultures also use cliffs elsewhere along the Sandriviersberg as roosts but they do not breed at these sites. This charismatic vulture is one of the flagship species of the Waterberg.