Rickubis Bird Page #7: Vultures

Rickubis Bird Page #7: Vultures!
This page was born 04/16/2015. Rickubis designed it. (such as it is.) Last update: 04/03/2022
Images and contents on this page copyright ©2002-2022 Richard M. Dashnau

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Welcome to Brazos Bend State Park. That's me on the trail. One of the most popular reasons for people to visit BBSP is to see the birds. Although *I* started going to the park mainly for the alligators, one
cannot be there for long without learning to enjoy the birds. Over the years, I've captured a few pictures and video clips of them, and here they are. I've collected all my shots of vultures onto this page.

04/04/2021 Back to Brazos Bend State Park! It was great to be out on the trail and interpreting Nature for interested visitors. It was Easter Sunday, which is usually one of
our busiest days, so I was on my bicycle. While this lets me cover more trails, it cuts down on what I can see. However, that doesn't mean I missed everything.
At Creekfield Lake, I saw these Black Vultures (Coragyps atratus) at the platform at the end of the long pier. Although it was tempting to get closer, I let them be-so they could
enjoy the early morning (about 8am) like I was. This species often picks a "roost tree" in this area, and groups of 20 or more can sometimes be seen in the morning. It's amazing to
see a group them take off and ride a column of heated air before they separate for to forage. It's also fun to see them coming in to roost for the evening as a huge number of these
large birds come in to a huge column and then descend to the trees. I've tried to film both times, but I can't capture the tremendous scale of these events.

01/09/2021 I've been going to Fiorenza park more often lately. It's not too far from my home (about 20 minutes' drive) and very few people are there when I am. As usual for the winter
months, many White Pelicans and Cormorants appear there. I really enjoy seeing them forage together in large rafts, and have taken a number of photos and video clips over the last few weeks.
Today I saw a group of Black Vultures (Coragyps atratus). I always like to watch them, so I got some photos and video clips. The morning was chilly so some of them opened their
wings and turned their backs to the sun to warm up. I captured high frame rate video of 2 different vultures taking off. The last photo below is a frame from that edited video (mp4).

Vultures relax by the water Facing each other Catching some sun. Taking off!

I found the reason that the vultures had collected there. There carrion down by the water, and they were picking at it. Since I didn't want to chase them off, I stayed back (about 50 yards away)
and zoomed in with the camera to try to identify the carcass.. I noticed that the skull had sharp teeth, without large orange incisors. So, not a nutria or other rodent. I thought I could see a long,
naked tail. That, with the sharp teeth the pale color of the carcass made me think it might be an opossum. I've seen vultures take carrion away, so I didn't want to risk moving closer. The vultures
finally flew off and left the carcass, so I could examine it. My first guess was wrong. The skull was short, and I could see the ears. The carcass was that of a cat.

Vultures gathered around carcass Sharp teeth, not big incisors Closer look at those teeth.

Short skull, sharp teeth, pointed ears, long tail.

The ponds at Archbishop Fiorenza Park were built as water detention ponds to help control the flow of water from Brays Bayou. I've found reference online to
an Eldridge Stormwater Detention Basin for this area. (I've finally found a webpage about this portion of the park! If the link survives.) Over the last week or so, we'd gotten enough
rain to raise the level of those ponds about 4 feet. That carcass could have come from anywhere upstream along Brays Bayou. The images (and this
video of the vultures feeding (mp4)) may upset some people, but I've chosen to share this. In part, I wanted to share how I'd discovered what it was. Also, this illustrates
an issue that is often being discussed. Regardless of whether this cat had been someone's pet (and there was no collar); or if it had been feral (it certainly wasn't a bobcat-it
had long tail.) on that morning, it was just vulture food. It does no good to let the domesticated species of cat run loose in the wild.

12/24/2018 I went out to Fiorenza park as I often do. I was hoping to see a Bald Eagle, but of course many other birds show up there. I was on the East
elevated section--near the bridge to the West elevated section when I noticed large black birds on the grass about 100 yards away. When I looked through
binoculars, I saw Vultures...but I also so a bird with a white head. But, it wasn't a Bald Eagle--it was a Crested Caracara. Since they were clustered around
something on the grass, I assumed that they had found something to eat...such as a carcass. I'd read that Caracaras competed with Vultures for carrion.
and I thought this was a chance to watch them together. So, I hurried down the hill, across the bridge, and back up the hill to where I could see the
Vultures. Then I started shooting video.
I only watched the birds for about 15 minutes--but a lot happened during that time. I watched the Caracara (Caracara cheriway) as it chased a group
of Turkey Vultures (Cathartes aura) AND a group of Black Vultures (Coragyps atratus) away from the carcass. I couldn't tell what the carcass had been.
I also watched as the Vultures tried various non-violent ploys to get some of that carrion.
I shoot my "normal" video at 60fps, and 1920 x 1080 resolution. This allows me to easily slow the video to 30 fps (1/2 speed) and keep smooth video playback.
And, I can crop the video to enhance details I want to show. From my video clips, I've put together a video that just under 15 minutes long. The three images
below are frame grabs from the video clips. the video is linked here. I had a wonderful time watching these majestic birds!!

11/04/2018 While Walking near the 40 Acre Lake Observation Tower, I noticed some Black Vultures on the trail to the South. When I moved a bit closer, I
saw that they seemed to be gathered around an alligator that was in the grass, between the trail and the lake. I thought that was odd, and briefly thought that
they might have gathered around a dead alligator. When I remembered that a few people had passed that way, and none of them had mentioned a dead
gator, I realized that I was probably mistaken. I moved a little closer, but still remained about 50 yards away. Then I watched vultures through binoculars and
my camera. After a few minutes, the alligator slid into the center of the path,which placed it among the vultures. Well, that proved it wasn't dead! Most of the
images below are frame grabs from video clips I shot during this event. I've edited them together into a single video file that can be seen at this link.

It rested on the trail while the vultures stood around it. Finally, it stood, backed up, turned around and walked back into the lake. The vultures watched it go.

Right after the alligator entered the water, a vulture pulled a surprise out of the grass from the other side of the trail! It appeared to be internal organs or a mass of
something else wet and soft. I watched the vultures as they poked at the mass, shared it, and argued over it. It's always interesting to watch them.

About 20 minutes after it had left, the alligator moved back out of the water and crawled slowly towards the vultures. As it moved towards the trail, a few of
the vultures moved into an odd sideways stance with wings partially opened, and walked back at an angle as the alligator approached. The alligator slid to the
edge of the trail, and paused. The vultures kept watch on the alligator as they continued poking around on the trail.

At about this time, a couple of park visitors happened by. So, I described the situation to them. I did this partly because it's my job as a nature interpreter; but I also
wanted to prevent the visitors from continuing down the trail and disturbing the equilibrium of the "confrontation". While I was talking to these visitors, the alligator suddenly opened its
jaws, and lunged a few steps towards the vultures. The vultures did not seem very impressed by this they just moved aside and watched the alligator. The alligator paused with its mouth
slightly open, then turned and went back to the water. Once again, the vultures followed the alligator and watched it go.

After a while, the vultures finally stopped arguing over whatever the mass was, and finally dispersed.
Although commonly considered scavengers, Black Vultures will sometimes take live prey, such as nestling herons, baby turtles, or even living newborn calves. (The Sibley Guide to Bird
Behavior, 1st Edition, p. 184) Various online sources give evidence that flocks of Black Vultures can be a nuisance, but that appears to be in places where the vultures do not normally live.
At Brazos Bend, they can be an awe-inspiring sight, or just an object of fascination.
And once again, the video file for these events can be seen at this link.

February 19, 2012 Consider a character that eats dead and rotting flesh. Imagine also that it never brushes its teeth. It doesn't take much to imagine that that character wouldn't be very
popular. So, our character eats rotten flesh, and it can't brush its teeth. Why not? Well...first, it doesn't have any teeth.
Second, it doesn't have any hands. So, its breath is probably not too pleasant. Since it has no hands; when it eats, it has to poke its head into the nasty flesh. And if it has anything rough on
its head-the nasty stuff would be caught in that fluffiness and also be rather unpleasant. So... it has a naked head to minimize the amount of moist gunk that sticks there. Still...some material
must still be left there. Bad (well, putrid) breath and stinking rotten gunk on its head could make our character rather unpopular. But that's not all.
When it's hot, our character doesn't really sweat very well, so to help cool itself it lets liquid excrement run down its legs. The evaporation of the liquid part causes cooling of the legs (which
are covered with bare skin). This acts like a heat exchanger--like the radiator on your car--and circulation brings cooled blood into the body and hot blood out to cool. NOW it's easy to
imagine our character is pretty nasty...and no fun to be around.
The character is a Black Vulture. They eat carrion--dead and rotten carcasses. Their heads are bare of feathers because they like to eat into carcasses where the soft parts are. They cool
themselves with a process called "urohidrosis", which is defecating on their legs and allowing it to evaporate. I'd never considered that with these habits, vultures must be pretty unpleasant
characters to be around. But, they don't seem to smell like rotted flesh. Why not?
I found at least one reason today...
I was leading the Creekfield hike, and when I got to the long pier, there was a huge group of Black Vultures--the collective noun is a "Wake of Vultures", at the end of the pier. The Vultures
allowed us to get very close before they flew off. They didn't want to leave.
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Some flew off to the Vulture-filled tree across the lake. But some just landed on the nearby island; which, I noticed, was covered with Vultures. Many of them had their wings open and their backs
facing towards the sun. What the heck were they doing?
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There were also two HUGE alligators on the same island, but the Vultures crowded on their portion and left the alligators to theirs.
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As the park visitors and I watched the Vultures and the Alligators, many folks asked what was going on. I noticed that Vultures landing on the island were wet...very wet. So, they were drying themselves. But
how were they getting wet? I finally found the answer through my binoculars. There were many Vultures in a large tree directly across the lake from the end of the long pier. But under the tree, protected by
distance and the heavy brush, the Vultures were washing themselves! With all the Vultures I've seen at the park and elsewhere, I'd never seen them washing themselves. This was done very much like other,
smaller birds do in birdbaths and puddles everywhere.
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As I watched through binoculars, I saw them wash their heads, dunk their beaks, lie in the water, and "scoop" water across their backs with their wings. After a few minutes of this, they'd fly
back to our side of the lake and dry out. There they were, feathers clear, heads clean, and legs poop-free. And I'd gotten to see another part of life as a vulture. Maybe now they'd be ready
for some social activity. Along with the photos posted here, I was able to capture some video clips (a few of the images here are frame grabs from the video). I've edited some them
together into this video clip (mp4 104mb).

January 22, 2012 While walking past the water station at Elm Lake, I noticed a large group of vultures on the ground between the trail and the lake. I thought this was strange, so I moved
slowly towards them and observed what they were doing. As I got closer, I noticed that 3 or 4 alligators were watching the vultures, or whatever had caught the vultures' attention. The vultures
nearest the water were watching the alligators. The alligators seemed to be paying attention to the vultures. Then, some of the vultures near the alligator started pulling at the grass and poking
the ground with their beaks. Occasionally they seemed to be tossing grass or dirt towards the alligators. This "standoff" continued for some time, but was finally broken off when a park visitor
rode a bicycle past the flock of vultures. The vultures flew off, but just to the nearest island on Elm Lake. When I examined the ground where the Vultures had been gathered, I couldn't see or
smell anything dead. The images below are photos and frames from video clips that I shot of the events I describe. I've edited two video clips from this. The pictures show below, and the video
clips are here (45 mb mp4) and here (52 mb mp4).
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A few hours later, I found out that an alligator or alligators had been chewing on the carcass of a feral hog for at least a few days. The alligators in the area of Elm Lake between pier 6 and
pier 5 were moving around a lot--swimming back and forth between the islands and the banks near the trail. While looking down the line of islands, I noticed a large alligator standing on one
of them, chewing on something large. I'd found the alligator with the carcass! I hurried over in time to see the alligator on one of the islands, alone, tossing the carcass, and then crushing it--
as alligators do with large prey that has bones. A vulture landed on the island, near the alligator. Then another vulture. And another...and more until a group of vultures surrounded the alligator.
The vultures slowly moved closer to to the alligator...starting to crowd around it. The alligator stood up with the carcass (actually just the head of the hog), and high-walked into the water.
As the alligator swam away, the vultures began picking at the dirt and grass where the alligator had been holding and shaking the hog carcass.
It seemed that fragments or even just droplets from the carcass caused the area to smell like dead hog--and the vultures (and alligators) were attracted to this.
Meanwhile, the other alligators tried to take the hog's head from the alligator that had it.
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However, that alligator was able to submerge and confuse the carcass thieves. It climbed up onto another island to try again to swallow the hog's head. Again, it chomped on the hog. And then
the vultures landed on the island, and gathered around the alligator. One by one the vultures sidled closer to the alligator. While the alligator was resting after a bit of chewing, some of the
vultures moved in and grabbed at the hog's head while it was still in the alligator's mouth! They actually pulled a piece off the head before the alligator moved into the water again; where it was
chased by the other alligators. Finally, the alligator moved around the end of one of the islands, and was able to almost close its jaws entirely around the remainder of the hog. The vultures
stopped harassing it, and the other alligators couldn't see it.
The Black Vulture (Coragyps atratus) is called "New World" vultures, along with the Turkey Vulture (Cathartes aura). Recent studies have genetically and morphologically linked these vultures to
the Storks. One study can be found here: http://www.pnas.org/content/91/11/5173.full.pdf That is, Black Vultures are related to Storks, such as the Wood Stork. Besides certain physiological
similarities, the two types share some behaviors--such as "urohidrosis (or urohidrosis). This is the act of wetting the bare surfaces of the legs with liquid waste in order to allow the evaporation
of the waste to cause cooling through the skin.
Addition 2/25/2012:
After further thought, I realized that Black Vultures might also be called kleptoparasites. (I mention kleptoparasitism in relation to spiders on this page). A "kleptoparasite" is an animal that will
supplement its diet by stealing food procured by other animals. According to The Sibley Guide to Bird Life and Behavior, Black Vultures can "dominate Turkey Vultures at carcasses" (page 185),
driving them off of kills that the Turkey Vultures find with their greater sense of smell and more efficient soaring abilities ("light wing-loading" (page 185)). As shown here, the Black Vultures are
stealing food from the alligator as well.
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If you'd like to know more about the park follow these links:

Brazos Bend State Park The main page.

Brazos Bend State Park Volunteer's Page The volunteer's main page.

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