Bird Watching: Somethng I didn't know about vultures, 1 by 2dCousinDave

2dCousinDave wrote:
Returning to the subject of Turkey vultures, or buzzards as we used to call them. A couple of months ago a squirrel was repeatedly getting into one of the seed feeders I had out for the cardinals and I threw something at him to make him leave. I didn't think I hit him because he ran. After he had gone about 20 feet (around the corner and out of my sight), he died.

Less than two hours later there was a turkey vulture in the yard, working on him. He stayed until he was finished and left only skin and bones, literally. I had never seen a buzzard attracted to anything that wasn't rotting and it is hard to imagine the squirrel would so quickly have begun to decompose or have given off enough odor that it could be detected from several hundred feet up. But maybe so. You're right Hack. There is a lot we don't know about these amazing creatures.

Here is a close shot showing his see-through nasal area. In this particular shot I cought him blinking his eyes. I noticed that the one Duc posted was not nearly so red as the variety we have here in the East.

Dave