Vulture Venture

I have been short on new blog material lately.  The only interesting new finds have been swarms of midges coming out on unseasonably warm January days, a mating behavior usually scheduled for late March and April.  The only way I could catch them is by hand which squashes them too much to ID the species.

One constant finding at Bull Mills this December was the black vultures sitting on the corral rails behind our barn.  This is the 15th annual brood raised in the Vulture Obstetrical Ward (aka our 120 year old barely standing barn). Last year we didn't see any eggs or chicks and had given up on them when I suddenly saw the juvenile above, filmed in this video as it prepared to fledge.  

 

Click to enlarge

There are several stalls which I can't open due to settling and the groundhog holes are now vulture tunnels.  Back in 2013 we wrote this blog about a vulture family raised in a hollow tree which I filmed through a two inch crack.  They hiss a warning, "I am bad and will vomit on you" as seen in this video.  How the chicks managed to get up eight feet to the open top of the trunk to fledge is beyond me. 

We get a better view of them in the barn each year as seen in the Now Eat Your Carrion blog.  They hiss the first few times I open the door but soon learn to totally ignore me.  The parents would initially flush out the window but later just looked bored.

 

Last year's fledgling wasn't quite ready to take flight when I found it so I came back a few days later for its maiden voyage.  They are still hanging around the barn on the corral rail on warm days, now without their juvenile downy feathers.

 

MDC Nature Calling had a great story on vultures, everything you ever wanted to know.  I found this about killing livestock interesting.

"It can be difficult to tell if a black vulture actually killed the animal it is feeding on or found it already dead. Farm animals, especially newborns, die from many causes. But black vultures sometimes do kill newborn calves and lambs. They are attracted to the afterbirth and may try to eat a newborn that is not yet able to stand and move away. Because black vultures tend to feed in groups, it can be hard for cows or ewes to scare them off, especially if they are first-time mothers."

 Here is the whole vulture story from MDC.  

 

More pictures of our annual vulture adventures are seen in this Flickr album.