TURKEY VULTURE
If you’ve gone looking for raptors on a clear day, your heart has probably leaped at the sight of a large, soaring bird in the distance– perhaps an eagle or osprey.
But if it's soaring with its wings raised in a V and making wobbly circles, it's likely a Turkey Vulture.
These birds ride thermals in the sky and use their keen sense of smell to find fresh carcasses.
They are a consummate scavenger, cleaning up the countryside one bite of their sharply hooked bill at a time, and never mussing a feather on their bald heads.
LUCY'S STORY
"Lucy", our Turkey Vulture was admitted on December 26th, 1989. after being hit by a car near the Ranger Stadium. Her left wing had to be amputated.
Cool Facts:
The Turkey Vulture uses its sense of smell to locate carrion. The part of its brain responsible for processing smells is particularly large, compared to other birds. Its heightened ability to detect odors—it can detect just a few parts per trillion—allows it to find dead animals below a forest canopy. The Turkey Vulture maintains stability and lift at low altitudes by holding its wings up in a slight dihedral (V-shape) and teetering from side to side while flying. It flies low to the ground to pick up the scent of dead animals. Vultures in the Americas look a lot like the vultures in Europe, Asia, and Africa, with broad wings, bare heads, and the habit of eating dead meat. But surprisingly, they're in different taxonomic families, meaning they're not particularly closely related. They evolved many of the same features as they exploited the same kinds of resources in different parts of the planet. This process is known as convergent evolution. Not everyone sees vultures as a creepy harbinger of death—many see them as sacred for their cleanup role. Tibetan Buddhists practice “sky burials,” where animals, usually vultures, consume their dead. Similarly, Zoroastrians offer their dead to be consumed by vultures on a raised platform, called a dakhma. They regard vultures are precious animals that release the soul from the body. However, in parts of urban India, where vultures have become scarce because of accidental poisoning by a livestock anti-inflammatory drug, not enough vultures remain to meet the demand and some people have turned to burial. The word vulture likely comes from the Latin vellere, which means to pluck or tear. Its scientific name, Cathartes aura, is far more pleasant. It means either “golden purifier” or “purifying breeze.” In cowboy movies the bad guy usually threatens to leave the hero in the desert for the buzzards, meaning the vultures. Although buzzard is a colloquial term for vulture in the U.S., the same word applies to several hawks in Europe. In fact, the Rough-legged Buzzard (Buteo lagopus) of Europe is the same species as the Rough-legged Hawk of North America.
Habitat:
Look for Turkey Vultures as they cruise open areas including mixed farmland, forest, and rangeland. They are particularly noticeable along roadsides and at landfills. At night, they roost in trees, on rocks, and other high secluded spots.
Food:
Turkey Vultures eat carrion, which they find largely by their excellent sense of smell. Mostly they eat mammals but are not above snacking on reptiles, other birds, amphibians, fish, and even invertebrates. They prefer freshly dead animals, but often have to wait for their meal to soften in order to pierce the skin. They are deft foragers, targeting the softest bits first and are even known to leave aside the scent glands of dead skunks. Thankfully for them, vultures appear to have excellent immune systems, happily feasting on carcasses without contracting botulism, anthrax, cholera, or salmonella. Unlike their Black Vulture relatives, Turkey Vultures almost never attack living prey.
Nesting:
Turkey Vultures don’t build full nests. They may scrape out a spot in the soil or leaf litter, pull aside obstacles, or arrange scraps of vegetation or rotting wood. Once found, many of these nest sites may be used repeatedly for a decade or more.
Nest Placement:
Turkey Vultures nest in rock crevices, caves, ledges, thickets, mammal burrows and hollow logs, fallen trees, abandoned hawk or heron nests, and abandoned buildings. These nest sites are typically much cooler (by 13°F or more) than surroundings, and isolated from human traffic or disturbance. While they often feed near humans, Turkey Vultures prefer to nest far away from civilization.
Behavior:
The Turkey Vulture's distinctive slow, teetering flight style probably helps the bird soar at low altitudes, where it is best able to use its nose to find carrion. At other times they may soar high on thermals and form mixed flocks or kettles. On the ground they move with ungainly hops and are less agile than Black Vultures. Often, especially in the morning, they can be seen standing erect, wings spread in the sun, presumably to warm up, cool off, or dry off. Outside of the breeding season, Turkey Vultures form roosts of dozens to a hundred individuals. When Turkey Vultures court, pairs perform a "follow flight" display where one bird leads the other through twisting, turning, and flapping flights for a minute or so, repeated over periods as long as 3 hours. Migrating flocks can number in the thousands. At carcasses, several Turkey Vultures may gather but typically only one feeds at a time, chasing the others off and making them wait their turn. Despite their size, Turkey Vultures are often driven off by smaller Black Vultures, Crested Caracaras, Zone-tailed Hawks, and other species.
Conservation:
Turkey Vultures have been increasing in number across North America since the 1980s. Before that, they were threatened by side-effects of the pesticide DDT. Today they are among the most common large carnivorous birds in North America. However, because they live on rotting meat, like California Condors, they can fall victim to poisons or lead in dead animals. The main concern is lead shot that ends up in carcasses or gut piles left by hunters. The animals eat the shot and eventually suffer lead poisoning. Other threats include trapping and killing due to erroneous fears that they spread disease. Far from it, vultures actually reduce the spread of disease.
Be sure to stop by the Turkey Vulture Habitat and see our Turkey Vulture "LUCY" on your next visit
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BLACK VULTURE
The more southern of our two common vulture species, the Black Vulture flaps its wings rather frequently while it soars.
It is more social than the Turkey Vulture, often traveling in large flocks.
STEVIE and RAY's STORY
Cool Facts:
One-on-one, a Black Vulture can be dominated by the slightly larger Turkey Vulture. But, Black Vultures rarely travel alone. Flocks of Black Vultures can quickly take over a carcass and drive the more solitary Turkey Vultures away.
Habitat:
The Black Vulture roosts in dense forests with large trees, and searches open spaces for carrion. Black Vultures are more common in flat lowlands than in higher elevations. They often soar higher than Turkey Vultures and gather in large numbers at roadkill and other carrion.
Food:
The Black Vulture feeds mainly on carrion, although it also scavenges fish, vegetable material, and dung. Occasionally, Black Vultures attack small live prey, or in larger groups may attack lambs or newborn pigs. The Black Vulture relies on others in their group to warn them about approaching danger while eating; this allows them to eat particularly quickly.
Nesting:
Instead of building a nest, the Black Vulture lays its eggs on the bare ground of the chosen nest site. Parents incubate the young equally.
Nest Placement:
The Black Vulture lays its eggs in isolated locations with little human disturbance. They find a dark recess in a cave, abandoned building, thicket, pile of rocks, or in a hollow log or tree. A pair of Black Vultures may assure themselves of the site’s isolation by perching nearby for a period of weeks before egg-laying.
Behavior:
The Black Vulture soars on thermals to gain altitude and to cover large distances with little energy expenditure. In this manner the bird spends much of its day searching for food. Black Vultures have a less well-developed sense of smell than Turkey Vultures and rely more on sight than smell to find carrion—this may be why they soar at greater heights than Turkey Vultures. They often aggregate at communal roosts before going out to forage, and these gatherings give unsuccessful or inexperienced vultures a chance to follow others to carcasses. The Black Vulture is monogamous and forms strong social bonds to its kin.
Conservation:
This is the most abundant vulture in the Western Hemisphere, and populations seem to be steady or rising in North America. Black Vultures benefit from human garbage at landfills and dumpsters, but they are also sometimes trapped, shot, and poisoned. They are sensitive to disturbance when nesting, and encroaching development may also threaten their nesting success. As large birds they were vulnerable to egg thinning effects of DDT in the mid-20th century, and as carrion-eaters they are susceptible to lead poisoning from lead shot.
Be sure to stop by the Black Vulture Habitat and see our Black Vultures, "STEVIE and RAY" on your next visit.
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