What a show this morning

[country gent]

Got up this morning and did some odds and ends, headed out to garage to tinker. Getting in the track chair I seen a skunk had been hit at the end of driveway. Thought dang will have to find a shovel later. I was working on the grinder stand and seen a shadow pass thru the window. Went and looked out 4 vultures out and 1 eating the skunk. Every time a car went by they all flew off. was something to see them taking off. Then they came back landing so graceful and easy. ! would be standing on the carcass another would get to close and he would run him off, while a third would jump on the carcass and start eating. This went on for several hours LOL. What a sight to see these big birds and their movements / interactions. There were 3-6 there the whole time. Wasn't enough left to worry about the shovel.

[Rcmaveric]

Awe the circle of life.

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[samari46]

Mother nature sure took care of a stinky problem solved. Hit a cotton mouth with my bush hog and figured I'll deal with it later. Don't know what critter did it, but went back later and it was gone.Figured I'd pick it up with the bucket on my tractor again mother nature took care of that problem. Snakes really stink when left out in the sun. Frank

[Winger Ed.]

A few weeks ago, a squirrel got run over out in front of the house.

After about 15 minutes, 4-5 vultures made it disappear after they had established, and agreed on all the dining arangements.
There wasn't enough left in the road to find with a DNA kit.

[Land Owner]

I have learned to cut out and leave hog/deer entrails in my field for the buzzards (processor won't take whole game). In not more than 5 minutes there will be dozens if not hundreds tearing it apart. Ten minutes later there will be nothing but wet soil. If I breast a duck, I leave the carcass in the notch of an oak for the bob cats. Gone every night. May be coons eating them too (idk).

[NyFirefighter357]

We never saw vultures as a kid, then about 25yrs ago they were fairly common. That didn't last though. I can't remember the last time I saw one. The crows were always the scavengers of the carcasses here. Last year I drove past a deer carcass on the highway and a Bald Eagle was scavenging it, something else you don't see often. Coyotes are here in established numbers now but don't see many either. They will scavenge the gut piles during hunting season. The coyotes here are about 18% wolf and not very shy, they like urban area's and have been known to take pets being walked on a leash in broad daylight. There numbers go up & down as well.

[Jeff Michel]

Buzzards that are local to my area have decided that a gunshot = lunch. Usually within 15 minutes they are overhead looking. Pretty neat to watch them work.

[richhodg66]

As a kid, we used to take Summer trips out to Big Bend in west Texas and one of the trails, The South Rim, took us way up and you could watch them flying pretty much at eye level. They are extraordinarily graceful flyers, quite majestic actually, it's a shame they're so ugly when you see them up close.

Mother Nature is very efficient, nothing wasted.

[GhostHawk]

I grew up in a very rural part of northern Minnesota, never saw a vulture until about 5 years ago.

They like to roost in the big elm tree's right here in the middle of Fargo. I have picked up several big feathers from when they molt less than 3 blocks from my house.

Awesome sight to see 20, 30 of them spiralling in a thermal. Earlier morning 8-11 and after 5 until sunset are when I see them most.

[Deadeye Bly]

I saw a smart buzzard once. A squirrel had been killed in the road in front of my house. A buzzard came and picked it up and took it out of the road so he wasn't disturbed during lunch.

[gwpercle]

In Louisiana we have Turkey Vultures and Black Vultures ... I believe both are protected by law.
I have a bit of respect for any animal that can eat a road killed skunk...that's a powerful stench that has to be overcome... ruins my appetite .

The vultures around here will drag road kill off the highway , if it's large enough they will work together to get it off the road .
have seen a dozen at a time working on a deer carcass .
Gary

[Mal Paso]

I'm at 1900 feet with a thermal zone in front of the house and vultures put on a great show. They like to fly more than any other bird I've seen. They circle in front to gain altitude then go off to find food or have fun. They often glide through the yard dodging trees, only flapping wings when they absolutely have to. Like it's points off the score. Sometimes they start behind and above me and flash past the windows, wings tucked, full speed and I swear they are grinning.

[Der Gebirgsjager]

They serve a purpose.

If you're ever walking through the woods and get near one of their nests you'll smell it long before you see it. They take some of that stuff home to their young.

Samari46 is right about stinky dead snakes. When I was a kid we had a couple of hayfields that we'd mow and then rake, and in the process 2 or 3 rattlers were killed by the mower, then get raked into the rows of hay. You couldn't hardly stand to pick the hay up the smell was so bad, and the buzzards didn't seem to find them if they were under/inside the row of hay.

A couple of years ago down in the Willamette Valley I saw a big hawk flying away across a grassy field with a huge snake. The hawk had it approximately in the middle, and there was about 3 ft. of it hanging down on either side of it's talons. Kind of like the Mexican flag, but airborne. Probably a gopher or bull snake. Made me feel good about hawks and able to forgive them for the way they used to take our chickens. But I doubt if I'll ever like buzzards.

DG

[jdfoxinc]

Barn storming.

[Winger Ed.]

If you're ever walking through the woods and get near one of their nests you'll smell it long before you see it. G

A few years ago, a old widow woman a few houses down had a pair nest in her husband's old boat house.
It stunk so bad you couldn't enjoy being on the patio if the breeze came in a certain way.

She left them alone until the new ones graduated from Flight School.
Then had a neighborhood teenager make the nest go away, and closed up their access to the boat house.

[higgins]

I live on a busy county road and we have a sizeable deer population. When a deer is killed near a house it is taken care of by the homeowner either by themselves or by calling the county to pick it up if they can't drag it to the back 40 themselves (or if they don't have a back 40). When one is killed away from a house and makes it well off the road before it dies so that the buzzards can work undisturbed they will have it picked to bare bones in just 3-4 days. Looks like something from the vultures on the African plains.

Vultures around here have also learned to start searching hay fields as soon as they're cut, and really give them a going over when the hay is raked. A few years ago one of our cats started stalking a couple of vultures that were feeding on something small in our little field that had been killed by hay equipment. About the time the cat stopped the stalk and decided the vulture was too big a bird to mess with, a third vulture swooped at the cat. That was it. The cat did the fast low run straight to the barn. They were up close to the house and the whole adventure was funny to watch.