The black buzzards are predators I'm told by local cattlemen. They will attempt to eat a newborn calf live as its being delivered. I haven't seen this for myself. but more one person has told me this. The farmers kill them. The brown buzzards are harmless and are left alone. The blacks do congregate in large numbers. One bunch of about 100 used an abandoned school as a roost and made the neighborhood a mess.
Buzzards are pests
- Thread starter Alan L.
- Start date
rekees4300
Elite Member
Roosting, sitting, resting, sightseeing, whatever you want to call it, the point is that buzzards congregating around a house is abnormal behavior. Eliminating the cause of the abnormal behavior will solve the problem.
crash325
Elite Member
Lots of them come by my place to see if I have put out food for them (7 Rattle snakes last summer). Once the food is gone they move on.
IN this area they are called the Mexican Air Force and they winter in Mexico.
rekees4300
Elite Member
"Mexican Air Force"
LOL
LOL
crash325
Elite Member
You will also see "Mexican Parachutes" around here. Plastic shopping bags that get blown away and stick in the trees.
creekbend
Super Star Member
Yes, I agree that Vultures play an inportant part in Nature, but if they were roosting and causing that big of a mess on our decks, rest assurred that I would shoot them. If anyone wants to report me to the appropriate Agency, they are Welcome to. I have seen Hundreds of Turkey Vultures roosting in One area, in Florida. They love to roost in Cabbage Palms.
Dead buzzard "decoy:"
http://www.aphis.usda.gov/wildlife_...t/VultureEffigy Guidelines-revisedMar2010.pdf
Also mentioned in post #4.
Bruce
http://www.aphis.usda.gov/wildlife_...t/VultureEffigy Guidelines-revisedMar2010.pdf
Also mentioned in post #4.
Bruce
Bigfoot62
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Not necessarily. They have favorite roosting areas. It may have absolutely nothing to do with food.
And, as others have pointed out, not everything a buzzard eats is carrion. They will KILL newborn farm animals. I've seen it. It's happened here, and more than once.
As I said earlier, you need to make it "uncomfortable" for them to roost there.
TomSeller
Super Member
I did not know that. What kind/size of animal are they able to kill? They are in my county but we have not had an issue .... yet.
dave1949
Super Star Member
If this is the right bird, they don't eat just dead stuff.
Black Vulture - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Black Vulture (Coragyps atratus) also known as the American Black Vulture, is a bird in the New World vulture family whose range extends from the southeastern United States to Central Chile and Uruguay in South America. Although a common and widespread species, it has a somewhat more restricted distribution than its compatriot, the Turkey Vulture, which breeds well into Canada and south to Tierra del Fuego. Despite the similar name and appearance, this species is unrelated to the Eurasian Black Vulture. The latter species is an Old World vulture in the family Accipitridae (which includes eagles, hawks, kites and harriers), whereas the American species is a New World vulture.
It is the only extant member of the genus Coragyps, which is in the family Cathartidae. It inhabits relatively open areas which provide scattered forests or shrublands.[2] With a wingspan of 1.5 m (4.9 ft), the Black Vulture is a large bird though relatively small for a vulture. It has black plumage, a featherless, grayish-black head and neck, and a short, hooked beak.
The Black Vulture is a scavenger and feeds on carrion, but will also eat eggs or kill newborn animals. In areas populated by humans, it also feeds at garbage dumps. It finds its meals either by using its keen eyesight or by following other (New World) vultures, which possess a keen sense of smell. Lacking a syrinx葉he vocal organ of birds擁ts only vocalizations are grunts or low hisses.[3] It lays its eggs in caves or hollow trees or on the bare ground, and generally raises two chicks each year, which it feeds by regurgitation. In the United States, the vulture receives legal protection under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918.[4] This vulture also appeared in Mayan codices.