(whispering) Vultures

Nature Talk
1

We have four different types of vultures here and whenever I see one circling my first reaction is to be impressed at the size, then I have a little pang because I worry it means someone’s pet has died (even though it could well be a lizard or snake, who knows). I only somewhat recently realized the common ones at least fly with their legs straight down, and honestly it made my heart sing a little bit because it reminded me of a particular bee species.

If you hear the word vulture, where does your mind go? Is it a positive place, based on vultures’ role in the ecosystem?

Something less nature oriented based on culture, a la “He is such a vulture” or culture vulture or some such?

Do you also immediately picture the silhouette of a vulture looping lazily in the sky? Or imagine the distinctive shoulders of one perched?

Does your answer vary based on numbers, wherein one vulture is welcome but thirty or more is less ideal? I do not know what my reaction would be if my neighbors had many, many vultures sitting on their house, but then I consider if my reaction would be different if they had many crows. (We have many (8-10) zanates in our trees, but to my knowledge the neighbors are not upset even though they are extremely noisy.)

If you think vultures are perceived negatively and think this unfair, do you think it is in part because of their role as scavengers?

2

Seeing a (group of) vultures indeed does not necessarily mean a pet, snake or lizard has died. It could be cattle, a roadkill of a wild animal or nearby garbage. They also do not always fly with their legs straight down, only when landing or stretching their legs, usually not when soaring on thermal heat waves.

If I hear the word vulture my mind goes to stepwise wingmolt, migration patterns of the nominate aura subspecies of Turkey Vulture, Spanish nesting sites of Cinereous Vulture, a hot summer day with the chance of seeing a flyover Griffon in the Netherlands, target lists of species I have not yet seen in West Africa, and sporadic hissing sounds because vultures lack a syrinx, so… mostly bird-nerd stuff.

As for the role of vultures in their ecosystem, I think something curious occurs, as vultures like Black or Turkey in America and the Neotropics have become increasingly common over the past decades, whereas vultures in Africa have become increasingly rare and threatened. You can see how bad an ecosystem is doing not only by looking at which species are disappearing but even more so by looking at which species are thriving. The disproportionately high numbers of vultures in America and the Neotropics is the product of a great deal of the original habitat having been converted into agricultural land, providing species with a high adaptability to eating cattle, such as Black and Turkey vultures, with plenty of food. In Africa, food poisoning, trapping and habitat loss are big reasons for the declining numbers in vultures.

Great-tailed Grackles are also a great example of a species that can adapt to human presence and agriculture and is therefore thriving. Seeing many Great-tailed Grackles on your roof may sadly mean that you live in a urban or agricultural environment where they can thrive and other, more specialized birds probably cannot. Back to vultures: you will see thirty Black Vultures on a roof, but never thirty King Vultures.

It is indeed always unfair when a wild animal species, be it a vulture or a grackle, a barn owl or a rat, a spider or a scorpion, is perceived negatively or used as a metaphor for a bad habit or personality trait of humans. Animals do not deserve a bad reputation. They are never the ones who destroy their surroundings. That is why iNaturalist is so great: there is a place to showcase every species, learn about all of them indiscriminately and admire each with the beauty of its own!

It is great that you brought up vultures. They deserve so much more attention than we usually give them. I hope many people can share positive thoughts of vultures in this topic. Cheers!

3

We have only two species of vultures, and I deeply admire them. I love to see them soaring, as an individual or a “kettle.” When I see many of them effortlessy gliding in lazy circles, I often exclaim “It’s a good day to be a vulture!”
I think they are beautiful when soaring, but I confess I find them ugly up close (I know, “beauty is in the eye of the beholder.”)

Once in the woods I came upon a group of them in a circle in the trees, all facing each other, hunched with their wings held out to the rays of sun shining through the branches. It was impressive, and I turned my steps in another direction so as not to interrupt.

There’s a scene in the old animated Disney film “The Jungle Book” where a bunch of vultures sit around asking each other, “Whaddya wanna do today?” “I dunno, whadda you wanna do?” A disrespectful representation, I suppose, but their voices did sound rather like the Beatles…

4

When we lived in Switzerland we hiked in the National Park. Just after they had released vultures there. Paper handout with the wing patterns and their names. The one we saw was Jasper ? Made my heart sing - successful reintroduction ! And only days later he was killed.

In South Africa we have had a campaign for years, periodically they find a mass of poisoned vultures. I suppose the better story would be Potberg in De Hoop nature reserve - those I haven’t seen.

5

I was not clear. The zanates rest and nest in our trees, specifically the three coconut palms. They also hop to our three limón trees but only briefly; they prefer to stay high above. They are not the only birds in the garden; we also have ruddy ground doves and white winged doves nesting and I often see or hear others (including my favorite the groove billed ani), but they are by far the noisiest. I think our neighbors do not mind though because they do not remain in our garden but also hop over the walls to the tall trees in the neighboring gardens.

Where I live in the state is a bit far from the cattle farms but vultures could also circle for chickens or ducks (which my neighbors have) or anything I suppose. My mind always leaps to pets first though, unsure why.

That makes sense about the legs. In that observation they appear stretched rather than dangling loosely. (I wondered if maybe they could be used almost like a rudder because of how amazingly buzzards fly.)

Yes, they are survivors.

6

A perhaps little-known vulture behavior: vultures like to tear up rubber. Some friends were visiting Everglades National Park (in Florida, US) and left their rental car for a few hours, Upon returning they discovered that vultures had torn up all the weather-stripping around the car windows. Now the Park provides the free use of tarps and bungee cords for visitors to cover their cars!
https://www.nps.gov/ever/planyourvisit/vulturestoknow.htm

7

Vultures circle for a lot of reasons that don’t involve anything being dead nearby.

They circle when gathering together to migrate, presumably because being up in the air makes them visible from a great distance. It’s common here in the fall, just before the turkey vultures head south, to see flocks of fifty or more circling all day as more slowly fly in to join them. They have favorite spots for circling up, probably because the landscape creates frequent updrafts there.

If they’re hungry and there’s nothing dead nearby, they circle to gain height before gliding to a new location miles away. (Easier than flapping.)

They circle to get up high where they can smell/see/hear better, just to check whether there’s anything good to eat, then return to their sunning spot if there isn’t.

They seem to spend a lot of time circling when mosquitoes and flies are bad, probably because it keeps them out of reach, and expends very little energy.

My guess would be, sometimes they circle just because air currents are right for it and they’re enjoying themselves.

I’ve always liked vultures, and when I hear the word I mostly picture one soaring overhead because that’s how I see them most often, but I really like seeing them sunning on barn roofs with their wings spread out - they look so much bigger with something for size comparison!