News: Vultures & Condors

[The Peregrine Chick]

Flock of giant California condors trashes woman's home
AP / Winnipeg Free Press / 6 May 2021


California condors rest on Cinda Mickols' porch as a flock of the rare, endangered birds took over her deck over last weekend in Tehachapi, Calif. About 15 to 20 of the giant endangered birds have recently taken a liking to the house in Tehachapi and have made quite a mess. (Cinda Mickols via AP)

TEHACHAPI, Calif. - Giant California condors are rare — but not at Cinda Mickols’ home.

About 15 to 20 of the giant endangered birds have recently taken a liking to the house in the city of Tehachapi and made quite a mess.


California condor droppings are left scattered over a porch after a flock of the rare, endangered birds took over the deck over the weekend in Tehachapi, Calif. About 15 to 20 of the giant endangered birds have recently taken a liking to the house in Tehachapi and have made quite a mess.(Cinda Mickols via AP)

Mickols’ daughter, Seana Quintero of San Francisco, began posting photos of the rowdy guests on Twitter.  She told the San Francisco Chronicle the birds showed up at her mother’s home sometime last weekend.

The birds have trashed the deck — ruining a spa cover, decorative flags and lawn ornaments. Plants have been knocked over, railings scratched and there’s poop everywhere.

"She’s definitely frustrated but also is in awe of this and knows what an unusual experience this is," Quintero said of her mother.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which runs a program to save the species from extinction, responded on Twitter. The agency noted that the house is in historic condor habitat, and suggested that Mickols try harmless hazing like shouting and clapping or spraying water.

"It is not unusual to see large congregations of condors in certain high use areas like the region where this incident occurred, especially when feeding," Fish and Wildlife spokeswoman Pam Bierce said in an email. "Unfortunately, they sometimes perceive houses and decks as suitable perch locations."

California condors almost vanished in the 1980s before the few remaining birds were captured and placed in zoos for captive breeding. A few hundred birds are now in the wild. As condors re-colonize parts of their historical range, people could increasingly find themselves interacting with the "curious, intelligent, social" birds, Bierce said.

Source: https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/world/flock-of-giant-california-condors-trash-womans-home-574362422.html

[Alison]

This beautiful black vulture showed up on cam at the northeast Florida bald eagle nest:

Photos: American Eagle Foundation.

[The Peregrine Chick]

They are pretty vultures that's for sure ... keeps cool company too.  Would have been interesting to know what they were waiting/hoping to dine on ... 

[Alison]

For the first time, there has been an observation of a Cinereous Vulture in Mauritania. From SEO BirdLife:

First observation of a black vulture in Mauritania! We banded him, as a chick, at the colony in the Valle del Lozoya, Rascafría, Madrid, on July 13, 2017.

The numbers in this colony have increased from 60 pairs in 2007 to 120 pairs currently. 64 chicks were born in the colony in 2017. There is a webcam which follows one of the nests. Last year's chick, Niebla (whose name means "Mist" or "Fog"), fledged successfully on August 29, and continued to return to the nest to eat, sleep and spend time with his parents until the cam was finally turned off for the season.

The cam is active during the breeding season.

http://www.seo.org/webcambuitre/



The young Cinereous Vulture was seen in the company of a Griffon Vulture and a Brown-necked Raven.



First record for Mauritania:

In December 2017, the Dutch birding group Banc d’Arguin recorded a first-winter Cinereous Vulture at Iouik (Iwik) which is located in the Banc d’Arguin National Park, north-western Mauritania. The bird was wearing a yellow colour ring, so most likely from Spain. The bird was photographed with two other scavengers, a Griffon Vulture (Gyps fulvus) and a Brown-necked Raven (Corvus ruficollis). This is the first known record for this Palearctic vulture for Mauritania.

http://www.magornitho.org/2018/01/first-cinereous-vulture-mauritania/

[Alison]

That is horrible news about the Andean Condors, TPC. Vultures and Condors continue to be persecuted for no reason. They are beautiful and beneficial birds.

[The Peregrine Chick]

https://twitter.com/peregrinefund/status/955877161591742464

[burdi]

Further information on turkey vultures can be found at The Cornell Lab of Ornithology. 

[burdi]

Thank you for reporting on the plight of turkey vultures, Alison. They’re so important to us, and I greatly admire them.

[bcbird]

Thanks for the heads up, Alison, on International Vulture Awareness Day.

My husband and I are always entertained watching the soaring feats and "tippy" flight of Turkey Vultures in the summer heat of  the Okanagan Valley in BC.  Once we stop seeing their early morning upward spirals, we know that autumn will soon arrive.

[Alison]

Today, September 2, is International Vulture Awareness Day.



Vultures have always been much maligned, and sometimes even feared, but they are extremely beneficial birds. They are the clean-up crew of the avian world, and they do an excellent job. They help to keep the countryside clean, and thereby prevent the spread of disease.

They have their own special beauty, and the most magnificent wings.

I read a few days ago that vultures, as a group, are now the most endangered birds on the planet.

Their numbers have been decimated by the veterinary use in livestock of Diclofenac, which is extremely toxic. Although the effects of Diclofenac have long been known, it has not been banned. When vultures consume carrion containing Diclofenac, they will die, and it is a horrible way to die. In India, vultures have been almost completely exterminated by Diclofenac; their numbers have decreased by 97.4%.

Below is a short video from SEO Birdlife in Spain in which a vulture asks "Who is the vulture, you or I?"

"I keep the countryside free of illness.

I save millions of euros.

I protect your health.

Nevertheless,  you kill me.

Diclofenac, which is used to treat livestock, can end up in me.

There are alternatives which are not toxic, and not more expensive.

Banning the use of Diclofenac is just a matter of common sense.

Do not be a vulture like me.

Let me be the only vulture."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A_hvP_0sfGg

And a very short video of Cinereous Vultures:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ToJEorKfm8c

[The Peregrine Chick]

Why One Virginia Town Wants to Kill a Vulture and Hang its Corpse
Judy Molland / Care2 / 2 Jan 2014

Seen on the wing, the turkey vulture is an awe-inspiring and graceful bird.  Designed for soaring flight, with a nearly six-foot wing span and a light body weight, turkey vultures are able to buoyantly ride rising columns of warm air to heights of almost 5,000 feet and to travel up to 40 miles per hour with almost no flapping of the wings.

Wow!

Seen up close, however, this creature is not so beautiful: an unfeathered and red-skinned head, long bare legs and weak talons, with the hind toe small and dysfunctional. Hence, they seek out carrion, since they don’t have the talons to kill their own prey.

In December, the town of Vinton, Va., decided that they had had enough of the migrating raptors.

As The Roanoke Times reported:  They materialized almost overnight, dozens of them, swooping in wraithlike and ready to roost. Vinton Town Manager Chris Lawrence had seen it before — beady-eyed buzzards loitering in his neighborhoods, an annual migratory menace. It wouldn’t be so bad if their acidic droppings didn’t remove paint from cars, or if they abstained from pecking at roofs. But they do, close to 100 of them.

Even though Lawrence admitted that the town was partially responsible for the vultures choosing this neighborhood, as town officials hadn’t covered buried roadkill well enough, Vinton police officers fired booming guns into the air to drive the birds away, and most left.

Vinton Plans to Kill One Vulture and Hang the Remains

Lawrence is planning more drastic measures for 2014.

Turkey vultures are classified as migratory birds, which means that they are protected under the federal Migratory Bird Treaty Act.  However, the town could apply for a federal permit to kill one vulture. The remains would be hung near the vultures’ roosting site, and the vultures would disperse because they don’t like to be around their own dead.

That’s right: just like that infamous spot at London Bridge in England, where for over 300 years in medieval times alleged traitors’ heads were put on spikes as a warning to anyone thinking of challenging the Royal Crown, a dead vulture would be hung to discourage other vultures from even thinking of coming close to Vinton ...


Read more: http://www.care2.com/causes/is-killing-a-vulture-and-hanging-its-corpse-the-right-thing-to-do.html

[The Peregrine Chick]

Sad news ...

Zion National Park's Condor No. 299 Is No More
NPT Staff / National Parks Traveller / 2 Jan 2014



Condor No. 299, arguably the most-viewed condor in Zion National Park, has died. The bird's body was found in a remote canyon southeast of the park.  The 11-year-old male was found after a search that involved a telemetry flight via airplane. It also took biologist Eddie Feltes a hike of several miles and a 300-foot rappel to recover the carcass.  Park officials hope a laboratory necropsy will shed light on what killed the condor.


source:  http://www.nationalparkstraveler.com/2014/01/zion-national-parks-condor-no-299-no-more24462

[Kinderchick]

http://www.upi.com/Odd_News/2013/01/27/Church-turns-to-effigy-to-scare-vultures/UPI-54021359320214/

Try this link.  

Yes! Thanks, bcbird. I wasn't able to open the 1st link but am able to open this one.

[The Peregrine Chick]

thanks bcbird!  

[Jazzerkins]

Yes, the second link worked.  Thank you.