It’s a technique the Bronx Zoo has been using for more than 40 years.

Gabby Rosato, a senior keeper in the ornithology department, is putting on what’s known as a ghost outfit.

Not only that, but she is also using a hand puppet that looks exactly like an adult bird of prey — called a King Vulture — typically found from southern Mexico to northern Argentina and Uruguay.

“This puppet head was actually created on-site here at the Bronx Zoo by artists who work here in the exhibits and graphics departments,” Chuck Cerbini, curator of ornithology, said.

The ghost outfit and hand puppet have been used in the conservation of birds of prey for decades. In this case, it’s being used to raise a king vulture chick, born at the zoo on February 25.

The egg was incubated briefly by the parents then removed to ensure a successful hatching, since it’s not uncommon for vultures to neglect or be aggressive with chicks, so keepers opted to hand raise it. 

“We want it to develop normally as a vulture. It’s very important for its behavior and in the future, especially its breeding behavior. Because it is being hand reared, we don’t want it to see our faces or hands feeding it, otherwise it associates humans with its care, and will eventually do what is called imprinting on humans,” Cerbini said.

King Vultures are carnivores, and the diet for the chick includes rodents like mice and rats. Next to the chick’s cage, another one of the zoo’s three adult king vultures is being held, keeping a watchful eye as the chick learns from its behaviors.

Cerbini says it takes a lot to make this all happen, but this is a special vulture chick. It’s the first one born at the zoo since the 1990s.

“This animal, if all goes well, it could live 60 years and that animal will be here a long time and the idea is to have a healthy, breeding individual contributing to the zoo population,” Cerbini said.

Cerbini said data collected when hand raising birds is shared with other zoos and others in the field who are working with wild bird populations.