Here's your chance to be part of an important study being done on the movement of Turkey Vultures! We recently received this message from a collegue at another Nature Center.
"Greetings! As part of a study on the movement ecology of turkey vultures, Hawk Mountain Sanctuary and colleagues in Venezuela have been attaching wing tags to vultures wintering in western Venezuela. Tags are either light blue or red and have a number on them, which can be seen either from above or below. We need your help re-sighting these birds, so next time you see a turkey vulture please take some time and check for a wing tag. For more information on how and what to report please see the following:
http://hawkmountain.org/media/turkey_vulture_wanted_09.pdf
Good birding,
David Barber
Hawk Mountain Sanctuary
Kempton, PA"
There is a photo posted on the link of a bird wearing the tag so that you can see what it should look like. So, the next time you see a soaring turkey vulture, stop what you're doing for a moment, and take a closer look. That bird may be wearing some jewelry!
16 comments:
Cool, I will look out for the tags. We have a pair of turkey vultures that nests at work and many fly over our buliding all the time.
It would be interesting to know if any of our readers spot one of these tagged vultures. Drop us a comment if you do.
Hi,
I saw one yesterday, Friday May 8, in my yard in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. He had a blue tag, No. 192, on his right wing. He was feeding on the ground and then perched in a tree where I took a couple good photos of him and his tag. I have sent the photos and details to your email.
How cool is that!!! The weblink posted in our article is not OUR email address. It is for the organization conducting the study. Be sure to contact them with the details of your sighting.
Today, 20 October 2009 at about 5:00 PM my wife and I observed some 150 -200 "Buzzards" circling about a neighbors property -- some at ground and tree level and others as high as 1000 feet or more.
Whle we watched, they landed in my neighbor's maple and Pecan trees right next door. They were too high to see any tags, but they seemed to be roosting for the night.
We are continuing to observe them and will follow up with another report.
We are in a suburb about 45 miles east of Atlanta, Georgia 6 miles south of I-20.
Our town is Newborn, Georgia. Population about 700.
The large number of vultures you spotted in your Atlanta area neighborhood leads me to believe that you spotted a group of migrating vultures on their way south. Be sure to let us know if you see any with tags.
About 60 turkey vultures have been in my trees for about 10 days now. Sometimes they go away for the day but return around three in the afternoon. How long do they usually stay in one location? I have not spotted any with tags. I am located in northern S.C. about 50 miles from the Blue ridge mts. Are they harmless?? to small pets?
kids? and amazed neighbors??
The 60 or so Turkey Vultures you've seen in your norther S.C. neighborhood are probably a migrating group from further north. Usually once the temperatures begin to dip into the freezing range they move on south. As to their safety for pets, children and amazed neighbors, have no fear. They are scavengers and feed primarily on roadkill and other carrion. They are Mother Nature's clean-up crew. So, for however long they stick around your area, just enjoy watching them as they gracefully soar on the thermals. The biggest danger to you and your neighbors is the stiff neck you might get from watching them.
We live in Harrison Tn (close to chatt.) For the last 4 days we have noticed about 100 turkey volutures around our nieghborhood.They like to sit in my neighbors tree.Just the one tree. They leave during the day and come back in the evening.They are amazing to watch. We have not looked for any tags but we will. We have never seen this many in at one time before usually we see 1 or 2 at a time. We are wondering if this is a normal migration or if something else like climate change etc?
In answer to tbathrea: The large number of Turkey Vultures you have roosting in your trees seems to be a trend this year in the southeastern states. I suspect it has to do with the protracted extreme cold spell we have been having further north. The Turkey Vulture Migration Study website http://www.frg.org/HMS/HMS_TV_more.htm states that turkey vultures in the southeastern states tend to stay locally, whereas turkey vultures from the northern states usually migrate to the southern states. The large numbers being reported may be a combination of the two, although this is just a conjecture.
We live in Buford Ga, about 30 miles northeast of Atlanta. It's Sunday morning and I just chased about 20 turkey vultures off my roof! There were many more circling above. If they come back I will look for tags. I initially clapped my hands and shouted and they just looked at me. When I picked up a small stick and waved it in the air, they left....interesting....I hope they are just passing through ! You don't realize how big they are until you see them close up.
I live in Prospect, TN and had noticed a lot of turkey vultures soaring above my house lately. Last night aroung 5:00, my son and I were pulling into the driveway and noticed several flying in from different directions. As we sat and watched, we realized there were probably around 50 or more roosting in the trees. I walked outside this morning and counted 8 big nests up real high in the trees. They were fascinating to watch, but I didn't notice any tags. I will look closer this afternoon.
It appears that a large number of Turkey Vultures have decided that Tennessee and Georgia are this year's vacation hotspot! Keep those comments coming. We'd love to follow their progress north.
WE are in Weirton, WV (just west of Pittsburgh PA) and our turkey vultures returned yesterday, March 16, 2010. Welcome back!
The Turkey Vultures seem to be moving North again, (Mid Feb.2011). We have sited a few here in North East Missouri in the last few days, didn't notice any tags. Hope it's a sign of an early Spring.
There is a large flock of Turkey vultures in the Chalfont, PA are that have been around since October,2010. They are on roofs, trees and have damaged window screens on a Farm house. Hope they will migrate soon.
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