Vultures: Nature's cleaner-upper BY JAMES JACENICH • STAFF WRITER
MONTEREY - "Turkey vultures and black vultures are kind of the Rodney Dangerfield of the bird world. They don't get any respect," said Keith Carson, a retired biologist currently working as a field representative for The Nature Conservancy, and is the newly elected president of the Bath-Highland Bird Club.
Carson, of Blue Grass, presented a lecture on vultures at the May 21 meeting of the Bath-Highland Bird Club at the Bolar Ruritan Building. Approximately 20 members listened to the lecture on vultures' eating habits while nibbling on snacks provided by club members.
Vultures perform an essential function - they dispose of dead bodies, said Carson.
The turkey vulture's Latin name, Cathartes aura, means golden purifier, a reference to its role of cleaning up dead things, according to the East Coast Vulture Festival. The black vulture is called Coragyps atratus, which means raven vulture clothed in black, according to peregrinefund.org.
Three species of vulture live in the United States, said Carson. There are four more in Central and South America. The turkey vulture is the most common vulture in Bath and Highland counties, but the black vulture is growing in number as world climate changes, he said.
The third North American vulture, the California condor, is rare and lives only in Southern California.
In a series of slides prepared for the presentation, Carson listed a number of little known facts about vultures.
It is illegal to kill, injure or capture a vulture, Carson said. The Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918 prohibits the killing, harming or possession of many species of birds, including vultures, according to the United States Fish and Wildlife Service.
Vultures in North, Central and South America, unlike the 15 species of vultures in Asia, Europe and Africa, are more closely related to storks and herons, Carson said.
They have no vocal organ, but they can make a hissing or grunting sound, he said.
Some scientists want to put vultures in a new order: Cathartiformes, which is neither bird of prey nor stork, said Carson. The vulture definitely is not a buzzard, however. That common association is based on European immigrants noting the similarity in appearance between the turkey vulture and the European buzzard, Buteo buteo, Carson explained.
Turkey vultures have small heads, trailing silvery-white edges on their wings and silvery white legs, he said. They are found throughout North, Central and South America. Here in Bath and Highland, they live year-round.
Have you ever seen a vulture sitting on fence or a tree limb, its wings spread as if it were drying itself in the sun? Well, it's doing just that. The posture is called the horaltic pose, said Carson.
He added a few more morsels of information on vultures to the ravenous audience of bird enthusiasts.
Vultures don't build nests, Carson said. They lay two eggs on the ground. They add plants to their diet of dead animals and they prefer herbivores to carnivores. A vulture rarely takes live prey.
The audience groaned as Carson explained that vultures urinate on their legs to keep cool. The uric acid acts as a sanitizer, too, he said.
Carson said the vulture has few natural predators. Its primary defense is vomiting, which may explain why predators avoid it.
The black vulture inhabits South, Central and the southern part of the United States. It has benefited from human activity and is found in greater numbers in disturbed areas than in forests, said Carson.
"We are at the northern end of their range," he said. "I've never seen one."
Claudia and Eddie McAllister, owners of McAllister's store in Hot Springs, said they have. "They are out by the Dumpsters," said Claudia McAllister. "They stay with the other vultures." They are probably hanging around for a free handout from the McAllisters, too, just like their cousins, the turkey vultures.
The 2004 Bath-Highland Bird Club bird lists numerous sightings of the bird. One sighting was at Hidden Valley. One was reported more recently at Lake Moomaw, according to club records.
Several features distinguish the black vulture from the turkey vulture, Carson said. The black vulture has white patches on their wing tips, a black head, black beak, and a broad tail. The turkey vulture has a red head, white beak and no white on its wings; and a long, narrow tail. The turkey vulture is more common in the mountains than elsewhere; the black vulture is less common in the mountains.
Vultures soar by riding thermals, he said. Turkey vultures hold their wings in a v-shape; black vultures keep theirs flat, said Carson.
Vultures have their fans. The Turkey Vulture Society is headquartered in St. Louis, Mo. Its Web site is http://www.VultureSociety@gmail.com. The East Coast Vulture Festival is held in Wenonah, New Jersey in early March. One can go there to see the vultures returning to Wenonah. The Web site is http://www.eastcoastvulturefestival.org. The festival's motto is "Look alive.
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