Okay this is odd. The Vultures are back.

[deezler]

Someone is about to tell us more than they know about this. Buzzards can't smell,no bird can. On the other hand with eyesight like eagles,they see flies on animals from quite high then can tell the difference in flies as they circle lower above animals. If animal has injury that is starting to rot and attract green flies,buzzards often begin eating although animal is alive.

Yo, sort of, but no. Buzzards definitely smell. They just dont sniff in through a nose like you or me.

"Extensive research into bird senses has shown that vultures, seabirds, kiwis and parrots have well-developed olfactory glands, giving them some sense of smell and taste"

Bird Senses: Can Birds Smell or Taste?

Bird-watchers often wonder can birds smell and do birds have taste buds? Discover how birds survive with sight, sound, taste, touch and smell.

www.birdsandblooms.com

Edit: oops I'm way late to the correction party here, haha. oh well.

 

[kenmbz]

A smelling fight on TBN about vultures. hmmm

 

[deezler]

A smelling fight on TBN about vultures. hmmm

This forum is so broad ranging, lol. How can we connect this back to some tractors?

 

[mark48]

I used to be that the turkey vultures returned to Hinckley, OH on March 15.....That may have been true years ago, now they seem to be in SW Ohio all year and now we have black vultures. I saw three in town feeding on a flattened coon in middle of a busy street. All they do is retreat to side of road as opposed to flying off

 

[MossRoad]

This forum is so broad ranging, lol. How can we connect this back to some tractors?

Porsche Vulture

 

[ericm979]

Definitely both! If they're circling high, it's cruising a thermal, but I see them over the meadow here circling all the time much lower, typically in a gradually decreasing radius circle, getting lower and lower and then they land. They probably can drop more quickly like raptors, but the prey's dead already and they can be much more chill about the descent.

(I'll bet your deer wasn't quite... tenderized? yet. around here they tend to go after stuff that's pretty well seasoned, if you get my drift)

When I picked it up to move it, it was pretty rank. At least it came up in mostly one piece. The leach field's not that far from the house and we kept getting whiffs of dead deer and thinking maybe it was the leach field (though it doesn't smell normally). It took a few days for me to put vultures and smell together and go have a look. We have a resident pair of vultures that soar on thermals on our place and sometimes cruise by pretty close so originally I thought one of them was just showing off.

One of the interesting things my prof who studied vulture told me is that they kind of space themselves out and patrol a territory. When one dives down to check out something the others near by spot that and cruise over for a look, the ones next to those vultures see them and come over, etc.

 

[JasperFrank]

"But they find dying animals by smelling decay gases."

Rethink that sentence, and i'll get back to you...

 

[the old grind]

This black vulture seasonal range map might be updated someday. Not all of us are familiar with 'em.

Thanks to the National Audubon Society for public access to this.

 

[ning]

"But they find dying animals by smelling decay gases."

Rethink that sentence, and i'll get back to you...

Maybe they have gangrene?

 

[ovrszd]

i use to time the seasons more on the way the buzzards would return and leave. They are very good at knowing how the weather is going to be.
I was a bit shocked today to see our local crew of buzzards return. Its January. They NEVER return in January. That's two months too early.

Where are you?

 

[ovrszd]

what state are you in?

The robins never left this year. I saw them at Christmas, New Years, and even today. First time I can remember that.

Actually,,,, robins don't migrate as one might think. I commonly see them in my timber thru Winter if the ground is bare. Bluebirds don't migrate either.

 

[ovrszd]

I've seen the turkey vultures here all winter. That's another first.

I haven't saw any here. We have a fast growing population of Bald Eagles. At a distance you have to stare at one for a few seconds to know it's an Eagle rather than a buzzard.

 

[ovrszd]

I always found it kind of a shame that the turkey vultures head south for winter right before we smash all the deers on the road in November/December from the rut, and hunting season pressure. So many carcasses just have to sit there all winter long in the ditch.

Anyone who sees cranes... tell 'em to turn around! More brutal cold air inbound.

No waste here.

 

[ovrszd]

Around here the bald eagle population is increasing and I didn't realize that eagles would eat roadkill until I saw one on a dead deer a while back. With the buzzards gone now, they don't have much competition.

An Eagle is just a Vulture with a tuxedo on. Last year I fed two Deer carcasses to the Eagles. This Winter so far I've fed one. They swing by every morning to see if I've got another one waiting for them.

 

[the old grind]

Facts about Robin Migration

robin migration is confusing because it's not a typical pattern. When do Robins migrate in spring? Don't robins migrate? Why do I see robins in the winter? Robins wander in the winter. Robins migrate more in response to food than to temperature. How much do they eat? Robins sing when they arrive...

journeynorth.org