Giant flock of vultures

[Zonlover]

 

[Sparkles99]

Neat photos! Do you know what they were circling over?

 

[MommyBird]

Vultures are OK in my book.
Thought you'd enjoy this trivia:
Vultures circling overhead, riding thermals as they search for carcasses are called a ‘kettle’. A group of vultures perched in a tree, meanwhile, are called a ‘committee’, a ‘venue’ or even a ‘volt’. Then, when the vultures descend to the ground to feed on a carcass they’re called a ‘wake’ which we think is beautifully descriptive. This makes a total of five collective nouns for a single type of animal, which is quite exceptional!

 

[Kile]

I see this quite frequently living out in the country! They're so big up close.

 

[Zonlover]

Neat photos! Do you know what they were circling over?

I don't think they were circling over a single thing, because a) the flock moved across the sky(still flying in circles) and didn't stay in one spot, and b) there were 30-40 of them, compared to the usual 10-15, so they may have been migrating. I don't know if vultures actually migrate, but that's my theory.

 

[Zonlover]

I see this quite frequently living out in the country! They're so big up close.

Yes, they are! I looked it up the other day, and turkey vultures have a wingspan of 6 feet!

 

[Kile]

Yes, they are! I looked it up the other day, and turkey vultures have a wingspan of 6 feet!

Wow! I didn't know their wings were that long. Usually when I see them up close they have found some prey on the side of the road and have their wings folded up while they eat

 

[Zonlover]

Wow! I didn't know their wings were that long. Usually when I see them up close they have found some prey on the side of the road and have their wings folded up while they eat

I've walked past a dead deer on the side of the road before. All the vultures flew away when I was like 50 feet away, though. But, seriously, they must have no sense of smell at all to be able to eat that because if there were aliens on PLUTO they could probably smell it.

 

[Birdbabe]

I've walked past a dead deer on the side of the road before. All the vultures flew away when I was like 50 feet away, though. But, seriously, they must have no sense of smell at all to be able to eat that because if there were aliens on PLUTO they could probably smell it.

Actually, vultures are the only prey bird that can smell..that's how they find they're rotting yummy food..and the reason they're heads have no feathers is so they can stick they're heads inside that fabulous rotty food, and the disgustingness wont stick on they're head plumage, making them stinky, and seriously ill..

 

[Zonlover]

Actually, vultures are the only prey bird that can smell..that's how they find they're rotting yummy food..and the reason they're heads have no feathers is so they can stick they're heads inside that fabulous rotty food, and the disgustingness wont stick on they're head plumage, making them stinky, and seriously ill..

Oh. Thank you?

 

[Birdbabe]

Oh. Thank you?

your welcome!

 

[taxidermynerd]

I love vultures! I think they're neat lil guys.

 

[fashionfobie]

Vultures are beautiful! The king vulture is especially elegant They have a very important job to do and I adore them for it.


Is this the species in your area ?@Zonlover

Loading…

ebird.org

 

[Zonlover]

Vultures are beautiful! The king vulture is especially elegant They have a very important job to do and I adore them for it.


Is this the species in your area ?@Zonlover

Loading…

ebird.org

Yes, most of them are turkey vultures. Occasionally i have also seen black vultures, though. They look pretty much the same but with black skin on their heads.

 

[SandraK]

I've walked past a dead deer on the side of the road before. All the vultures flew away when I was like 50 feet away, though. But, seriously, they must have no sense of smell at all to be able to eat that because if there were aliens on PLUTO they could probably smell it.

Actually, vultures are the only prey bird that can smell..that's how they find they're rotting yummy food..and the reason they're heads have no feathers is so they can stick they're heads inside that fabulous rotty food, and the disgustingness wont stick on they're head plumage, making them stinky, and seriously ill..

You mentioned vultures? The black vultures bring their "babies" to our back yard. We don't have a garbage disposal and food leftovers can get rank very quickly in the heat, we put them out on an old plastic platter. My third photo is of a "baby" - if you look you'll see that he still has feather on his head & upper neck. But of course, we also have crows eating suet and stealing peanuts from the, ahem, real bird feeder.

 

[SandraK]

To tell the truth, I had forgotten about Bird Watchers Road - I should post some of other FL bird photos in a new thread. I have some of the crows on the bird feeder as well as a hawk sitting on the bird feeder. Hummingbirds and ibis as well. Don't know what was going on yesterday morning but I got a photo of 9 robins all drinking water from one of my improvised bird baths.

 

[fashionfobie]

@SandraK
Thank you for thinking of the vultures. That is a genius way for getting ride of smelly stuff. When I run, passing certain bins can be a battle... It gets hot here too and things get weird fast! So hold breath and sprint. I know which of my neighbors eat more shellfish ... I tell you lol!

At my home, we don't eat meat so my leftovers and scraps are mostly veggies. They almost never smell as foul as the bins I run past. It helps that we give most of the stuff to our chooks and ducks. Granted the chooks would eat meat scraps too, no problem!

Super cool that you offer scraps to the vulture family. I look forward to seeing more of your photos

 

[SandraK]

We also have a turkey vulture but he/she is super shy and only scopes out the leftovers if there is nobody outside. She'll take off if she sees anyone walking past a window. I did see her come down yesterday but couldn't get a good shot of her. We had a park fajita casserole last night and I just finished putting out the scraps of fat that I'd trimmed off the meat. There were 2 vultures already waiting in the pine tree. One of them must be from the low end of the vulture perching tree as he was covered in poop. And they do smell awful.

One of our supermarkets sells pig tails, chicken backs as well as necks and gizzards & livers. They prefer the chicken backs & pigs tail & necks but not to keen on the gizzards. It's getting interesting now because our local hawk has noticed and now stops by as well but he'll take his "to go" if the crows are around. They're a naughty bunch too. We've watched them tease both the vultures and the hawk at different times by running up behind the bird that's eating and, I kid you not, pulling their tail feathers and then running back a bit. Nothing like a crow or hawk sitting on your bird feeder to deter the locals.