Wednesday, August 6, 2014

Wildlife Wednesday: Vultures!

Vultures and Buzzards -- those words don't usually bring nice images to mind but perhaps the images in this post just might change some minds.  A pair of American Black Vultures have joined the regular crowd of birds roosting in the trees off our back deck.  I'm joining Tina at My Gardener Says... for Wildlife Wednesday on the first Wednesday of each month.



While the term "Buzzard" refers to a number of birds of prey which are generally the size of a hawk, Vulture is a specific type of large bird found on several continents.  The American Black Vulture can be found from the Southeast U.S. all the way down to Chile in South America.  This vulture is distinguished by white markings on the legs and tips of its wings.  While they are a common sight in Texas, they are even more numerous farther south and can present a road hazard when driving in Mexico.

A group of Vultures is called a "Venue" and a group of circling Vultures are called a "Kettle".  When we drove the back way to Johnson City a couple of years ago, they circled every time I stopped to take photos.


Like all the creatures visiting our yard, I find them fascinating to watch.  Is "sweet" a word you would typically apply to a Vulture?  Isn't this sweet? 


Vultures share parenting duties and lay eggs in tree stumps or rock formations which they decorate with shiny objects (sounds like many of us gardeners with our yard art).  They feed on carrion (dead animals) so perhaps they are hanging out here waiting for road kill from a busy highway nearby.  They will also eat bird eggs or even kill injured newborn animals such as fawns. The Black Vulture relies on keen eyesight to spot their food and, unlike other vultures, do not possess a keen sense of smell.

One food source I was not aware of until I did my research is the compost pile.  There is a compost pile back there but we do not add food scraps because animals scatter it all over the yard at night leaving us with a big mess to clean up.  Vultures will eat decaying plant material so they are welcome to it if that's what they need since they provide a service by keeping dead animals cleaned up.

About the only noise they make is the sound of moving air and flapping wings when they take off, which can be startling when we exit the back door.


As August grows hotter and drier we will ensure there's plenty of water out there.



I'm making it a Wildlife Wednesday tradition to share a deer photo.  This large buck is one of the many visitors this week to the water bowl.  Soon those velvet antlers will itch and get rubbed on my favorite plants and trees in the garden.


Visit Tina's blog to see the wildlife she and other bloggers are sharing for Wildlife Wednesday.

16 comments:

  1. They are fascinating birds. We had a "venue" back in the woods a couple of years ago, and I think I saw some up in a dead tree earlier this summer. Must be a different species from yours. Their eating habits are distasteful (to us humans, anyway), but they serve a valuable purpose in nature. Great photos!

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  2. These vultures are handsome fellows. I guess there is a certain appeal to bad boys dressed in black. R always bursts my bubble by informing me that the elegant birds circling above are "turkey buzzards". Somehow the image is less romantic than that of a hawk or an osprey.

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  3. Great choices for celebrating wildlife in the gardens! I found vultures fascinating and they're so important for our ecosystem. They are also fairly intelligent, I think The photo of the parent feeding the juvenile is sweet. Yes--do share your deer. I know they're a hassle to garden with, but they have their place.

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  4. Vultures are actually handsome birds in their own right. And so unique to feature them, a bird that I've never seen featured in a garden blog before!

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  5. You captured some nice moments, Shirley! I love 'the kiss'!

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  6. These clean up artists have a strange reputation but they are handsome birds! I can see the headline now - "Vultures Circling Home of Retired Couple."

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    1. It does bring on an interesting image, we aren't quite ready for that yet!

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  7. I love watching vultures -- especially on long drives -- seeing them wheel on the thermals -- sigh. Only rarely have i seen them up close so these pictures were a real treat. I live across the street from a creek and get lots of wildllife passing through -- sadly that also means every year there is some roadkill from careless drivers, too. The presence of vultures then is so welcome. I place calls to the city for cleanup but most times the vultures beat the city crew to the job. And that deer! So healthy and gorgeous.

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  8. These are fascinating birds. Very efficient in their job.
    And, yes....almost time to 'cage' some plants, so the deer don't destroy them.

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  9. You got some wonderful photos, Shirley. They're interesting birds - how did they ever get such a negative reputation? (I suppose it's the carrion thing.) I hope you manage to keep that handsome buck from reeking havoc in your garden!

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  10. Great post! I am not one bit surprised to find you highlighting what many people ignore - Nature's extraordinary clean up crew. Our compost is covered so we haven't gotten big bird visitors but I see them up circling in the thermals every day. I think they are incredibly graceful.

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  11. We have turkey vultures here and we love to see them..fascinating birds. Wonderful to see a buck...we rarely see them here.

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  12. Vultures are always so ominous looking, even if they are helping out by cleaning up the rotting carcasses. That buck is quite a handsome fella, well, at least until he starts getting into your best plants.

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  13. Thank you all for your great comments! I look forward to sharing wildlife from my garden on the next Wildlife Wednesday.

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  14. Yikes, it's nice of y'all to "welcome" them, but that's one bird I don't want visiting my yard. I already worry enough about my smallest dog due to the occassional visits of a large owl.

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    1. Fortunately we don't have any small outdoor pets so it's okay if they visit.

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