The Clean-up Crew

Bob Currie

I first came face-to-face with a turkey vulture several years ago when I noticed that a large bird with impressive wingspan and a featherless red head had landed in our garden and was poking around close to where I had buried our cat, Fiorucci, only a couple of days before. I realized soon enough that the vulture was headed toward our pet’s gravesite—not intending to pay its respects but rather to feast on our dearly departed feline.

How did the vulture know there was a carcass buried underneath a foot of soil? Research studies have shown that while most species of vultures depend on their keen eyesight to spot carrion, turkey vultures have a highly sensitive sense of smell, which enables them to detect decaying carcasses even while flying a hundred feet or more overhead. That is why you’ll often find turkey vultures among the first avian scavengers to arrive at the dinner table.

In a study done in Panama in1983, turkey vultures found 71 of 74 chicken carcasses over a period of three days. Some carcasses were left in the open, but others were hidden. Because the turkey vultures depend on their sense of smell, they had a harder time, at first, finding the fresher carcasses, but they did eventually find them.

“At the carrion, turkey vultures usually get first pick,” says Wimberley-based birding guide Jesse Huth. “Often times, you’ll see the turkey vultures circling in the sky as black vultures observe from their perches in trees. Then, when the turkey vultures head down to a carcass, the black vultures follow close behind.”

However, both turkey vultures and black vultures may have to make way for crested caracaras, a member of the falcon family, whose sharp eyesight as well as curved beak and talons allow it to go to the head of the line whenever it arrives.

“Both vulture species will usually give way to the crested caracaras even if they have larger numbers, but only for a limited time,” says Huth. “Turkey vultures will chase individual black vultures, but the black vulture squad will rally and push the turkey vultures back. Crested caracaras will wade in and chase the vultures away before grabbing a few bites and backing away, allowing the vultures to start the tug of war all over again.”

Pecking Order

Earlier this year, I got to see the whole scenario play out in my neighbor’s yard, which one morning was covered in white chicken feathers. Photo courtesy Bob Currie

I watched as a turkey vulture landed beside the carcass—soon to be joined by two more. They would take turns chasing one another away in between grabbing pieces of the deceased chicken. Photo courtesy Bob Currie

Approximately five minutes later, a trio of black vultures arrived on the scene, and the turkey-vulture-versus-black-vulture struggle teetered back and forth. Photo courtesy Bob Currie

This could have gone on for many more minutes except…A crested caracara crashed the dinner party. Photo courtesy Bob Currie

And with a major portion of the chicken hanging from its beak, the caracara departed, presumably to dine alone. Photo courtesy Bob Currie

VULTURE FACTS

Vultures are found all over the world with the exception of Antarctica and Australia.
There are 23 vulture species in the world, 7 in the New World.
Fourteen are threatened with extinction in Africa and Asia. Only the California condor is endangered in the Americas.
Vultures’ highly acidic digestive juices help protect the birds and the environment from diseases such as cholera, anthrax, and tuberculosis.
They lack a voice box, so they can only hiss and grunt.
They lay their eggs on rocky surfaces or in tree cavities.

A CLOSER LOOK

Pecking Order

The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly