Good Evening Friends, I find it interesting and a little sad that, while vultures are one of the most widely recognized birds around, they are also one of the most widely misunderstood, right down to what type of bird they are! For instance, it is really common in the US to hear them called “buzzards” and when we get calls about “buzzards”, we know that the person means it is a vulture. The word “buzzard” actually refers to any of several birds of prey of the genus Buteo, which, here in North Carolina are red tailed and red shouldered hawks. That’s right, the scientific term “buzzard” refers to a hawk! So why do so many in the US call them “buzzards”? Well, we’ve all seen way too much Bugs Bunny. Seriously, think about it that is where we all got the term from. Yes, it is an accepted term here in the US, but it is still pretty much inaccurate. Vultures are very, very social animals! In fact, they will live in family flocks of up to 100 birds at times and they do not discriminate. Here in the US we have two species of vulture, the black and turkey vultures and they will live quite happily in the same family unit. These families form very tight and lifelong bonds, as we pointed out earlier when speaking of Fluffy’s family visiting him here. This family will perch at night in the same area, whether it is in a stand of trees, or sitting around a small pond depends on where the particular family lives. Vultures are quite happy to spend their lives on the ground. In the morning, the family sends out a “scout” to go find the day’s meal. This scout will follow his/her nose (yes, vultures have a very keen sense of smell) and come back to let the rest of the family know where breakfast is. While they are beautiful and artful fliers, they honestly don’t need to fly to survive. This is because vultures eat carrion (dead things), which are found on the ground. As we explained earlier, they are also quite agile on the ground, able to run quickly and jump up to 8 feet in the air. Most people assume, because of what they eat, that vultures are “nasty, dirty” birds, but nothing could be further from the truth. They are actually very, very clean animals, as are most scavengers. The lack of feathers on their head is because they reach into the body cavity of their meal, feathers would collect bacteria, but the lack of feathers helps keep them clean. At times vultures can be seen standing with their wings spread. This is nothing to be concerned over, they are simply taking a “sun bath”, allowing the sun’s rays to help burn any bacteria from their last meal off of their feathers. Black vultures will trim their tails straight so that they don’t collect bacteria as they stand on their meal. Vultures don’t have a voice box, yet still at times learn to mimic sounds. We have heard them laugh, bark and make any number of weird/interesting noises. While we’ve been called by many people that are afraid that vultures will carry their dogs away, this is really not a concern. Not only do they prefer their food not moving, but their feet are incapable of carrying anything. Their feet, unlike raptor feet, are built to stand on their food and hold it down, not carry anything. In fact, they can’t even carry one of their own feathers. And of course, they clean up the environment for us so that we don’t get sick from dead bodies laying around collecting bacteria. So, the next time you see a vulture, thank them! Have a beautiful evening all!
Posted on: Wed, 19 Nov 2014 02:00:00 +0000
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