More Vulture Trivia- May 24-31

FUN FACT #1
Did you know that vultures are relatively social birds, often feeding, roosting and flying together.  A group of vultures is called a committee, a venue or a volt.  When in flight a group is called a kettle and I saved the best for last. When feeding at a carcass the group of vultures is referred to as a wake.

As of 9:07 this morning there is still one turkey vulture egg in the nest.  Photos are much the same, flying in, flying out and occasionally a shot of them turning the egg.  Saturday, June 3 marks 30 days and possible hatching could occur anywhere between 34-41 days according to my research.  I'm assuming the blessed event will happen while I am in Delaware for Lily's ballet recital. This might be for the best and I will be sure to put a 32 GB card in before I go so we can see what happens inside the vulture lair.

I was worried after the one egg disappeared. Perhaps the critter that took it didn't like how it tasted!

Seems very curious about the camera....or he just wanted his picture taken.

In my notes I refer to this as egg turning.

I get very few shots of both, Amelia & Orville. I still cannot distinguish one from the other.

Turkey Vulture-Mystery of the Missing Egg - Fri. May 19 to Wednesday May 24

Sometime between Friday at 5:25 pm and Sunday 4:48 pm an egg disappeared.  Strangely enough the camera did not capture what exactly became of on of the eggs. So as of now, there is only 1 egg remaining.

And then there was one!

Amelia (or Orville) perched out side the barn window

May 21-24
     Because an egg was missing I decided to wait an extra day before changing out the memory card from the trail cam.  The first time I tried one of the adults was still in the barn.  Before when this happened they would just jump behind a bale of straw and I would change out the card and leave.  Today, however, there was much flapping and hissing and a distinct insistence that I leave. So I did.  I returned several hours later, and both adults were out although one was perched out side the barn window.  I quickly changed out the memory card, re-adjusted the camera and left as quickly as possible.  I suspected that a raccoon absconded with the egg but I have no proof.  There was an unusual visitor though last night.

Evidently this is protection mode

This is not at all who I suspected, and I still do not think this is the egg thief

Now, what is this cat thinking?

Obviously has never heard the old saying, "curiosity killed the cat"!

Must have been a very hasty exit!!!

A rare photo of Amelia and Orville

May 14-16 "How Much Do You Know about Vultures?"

Well, there are still 2 eggs in the nest but as I have been taking notes from my photos I am beginning to realize that the vultures are either bothered by the proximity of us sharing the barn or they are extremely laid back as expectant parents. Their visits to the nest have been rather erratic during the last few days so I have begun changing the SD memory card every other day instead of daily. I also had moved the camera a little farther from the nest but now they seem to pay a little more attention to it. I may have to move it back to it's original spot. I will explain why I moved it later in this blog.

Turkey Vulture in flight

So,.....How much do you know about vultures and where did you get your information?  As I was researching earlier this week I came across an interesting blog by Nicholas Lund. In his blog he explained that everything he knew about vultures he had learned as a kid watching cartoons. He cited several including; the evil vultures in Snow White last seen flying down to feast on the dead Evil Queen, the henchmen in the animated Robin Hood were vultures, and the vultures in the original Jungle Book with their crazy cockney accents. Also there was Beaky Buzzard in the Space Jam movie.  I'm sure we could come up with a few more examples but the point that he was making is that vultures are more likely than not portrayed as harbingers of death and often villainous.  As they do not directly cause death, I prefer to call them first responders. So today we celebrate the awesomeness of vultures. Here are some cool things that you may not know about turkey vultures. (Birdandmoon.com) #3 is why I decided to move my camera, just in case.

May 14-16 Trail Cam Photos

Posing for the camera

Where did this come from?

Checking in

Yes, Orville checked in

And 1 minute later he was gone

Amelia is leaving

And Orville comes flying in by the seat of his pants!

Yes, dear. I'm here now.

May 12 & 13 Trail Cam Photos-Amelia & Orville

I did some research this morning and learned that there are 3 species of vultures found in the United States. The most widespread is the Turkey vulture.  The Black vulture is commonly found in the southeastern US and the California Condor which was nearly extinct but is making a come back in California, northern Arizona, Utah and Colorado. The turkey and black vultures can easily be identified by their head coloring.  The turkey vulture's head is red while the black vulture sports an eponymous black head.  The Condor has an impressive 10 foot wingspan which is nearly double either of the vultures.  The scientific name of the turkey vulture is "Cathartes Aura". The word cathartes means purifier. During each post I will try to give a little more information about the turkey vulture.


Turkey Vulture

May 12 & 13  Switched SD memory card Saturday @ 2:11 pm. No adults present so I was able to get a better  egg measurement. approx. 2 1/2-3"


I have decided to name the parents Amelia & Orville (although at this time I cannot distinguish between the two.)

Add caption

Amelia & Orville

Amelia