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Vultures need care and feeding also
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Black vultures, with black head juvenile in foreground, feast on backyard turkey leftover carrion
The bird flew over our backyard, circled and finally set its wings. Feet outstretched, it landed near the bird feeder. This bird feeder was nothing more than a spot on the lawn where I had thrown a turkey carcass after Thanksgiving last year.
The bird was a six-foot wingspan turkey vulture that then waddled up to the turkey carrion for a tasty treat. We will do this again this Thanksgiving, Christmas and other times we have enough meat to attract these flying carnivores.
Shortly, a few other turkey vultures landed and shouldered their way in for a part of the meal. Within a few more minutes some black vultures landed. With a five-foot wingspan, they are smaller than turkey vultures. But they are a lot more active than turkey vultures, pushing their way to the front of the line in any collection of diners to begin feeding. Black vultures even seem to dare the bigger throngs of larger turkey vultures to interfere. Black vultures are definitely more aggressive than the red-headed turkey vultures that soar and glide with a slight dihedral cant to their wings. Black vultures with almost straight wings when gliding, have wrinkled gray heads and necks. Often young black vultures have a black head and neck, making them almost look like a different species. They are all black before getting their gray head and neck adult look.
Black vultures seem to use turkey vultures (sometimes called turkey buzzards) as advance scouts to find food. Turkey vultures find food by smell and apparently immediately detect the smell of carrion. Black vultures find food by sight. The mass of turkey vultures on the ground happily feasting should also help black vultures locate the cafeteria.
I think that I might be the only one on my block to occasionally feed vultures. While not as pretty as a yellow-bellied sapsucker or pileated woodpecker or as majestic looking as a bald eagle, they are interesting, and necessary birds. They do have their own striking look when viewed up close.
Both black and turkey vultures are necessary to help clean up woods and fields, marches and grasslands. Often they can be spotted along side a road, cleaning up a road kill whether it is a deer, groundhog, or whatever.
After all, we do need vultures. We can’t count coyotes, foxes, and crows to do all the work and heavy lifting.
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