Raptors Extinct and Extant

While working at World Bird Sanctuary’s Stone Zoo bird show in Boston, I have learned to make three major distinctions indicative of raptors: excellent eyesight, strong grasping feet and a sharp, curved beak.

Steven Spielberg’s Jurassic Park has made Velociraptors famous, but what do these prehistoric “raptors” have in common with modern raptors? They certainly don’t have a curved sharp beak or grasping feet.

It turns out Velociraptors and other theropod dinosaurs with raptor in their name such as Oviraptor or Eoraptor aren’t even closely related.  However they are united under the Maniraptoran clade, which means “seizing hands,” a nice parallel to extant (meaning living today) raptors’ seizing feet. They are defined as being more closely related to birds than other dinosaurs.

Dromaeosaurid (photo: wikipedia by Tom Parker)

Dromaeosaurs, or “running lizards,” are a group of Maniraptors containing Velociraptors and other “true” prehistoric raptors defined by their large grasping hands, a stiffened tail and one large, slashing claw on each foot. Modern birds of the Aves class are the sister group to Dromaeosaurs. You can compare an artists’ rendition of an extinct  raptor to our extant raptor, Diablo the Tawny eagle below.

Today we have many different raptors within Aves, which belong to different groups as well. The orders Accipitriformes, Strigiformes and Falconiformes are an example of convergent evolution and each produced unique raptor species.

Accipitriformes is the most diverse raptor order consisting of many different families of eagles, hawks, harriers, kites, osprey, the secretary bird and Old World vultures.  New World vultures of the Americas are not related to Old World vultures of Africa, Europe and Asia.  They have merely evolved to fulfill similar ecological niches.

Osiris, the Egyptian Vulture is an Old World Vulture (photo: Gay Schroer)

Baton Rouge, a King Vulture, is a New World Vulture (photo: Gay Schroer)

New World vulture phylogenic placement has proven to be difficult with DNA evidence supporting their inclusion in both the bird orders of Accipitriformes and Ciconiiformes or storks. Old World vultures are true raptors, while New World vultures lack the strong grasping feet of raptors. You can make this comparison between Osiris the Egyptian vulture (Old World) and Baton Rouge the King vulture (New World) at our Stone Zoo bird show.

Riley, a Barn Owl (photo: Aurora Potts)

Strigiformes consist of two main families of owls; barn owls and typical owls. Owls are mostly nocturnal and are therefore more sound sensitive than other raptors. Barn owls belong to the family Tytonidae.  Their face is heart-shaped and their legs are longer than that of Strigidae owls. Typical owls belong to the more varied family, Strigidae. You can see these distinctions on Riley the American Barn owl and Reese the Great Horned owl at our Stone Zoo bird show.

Reese, a Great Horned Owl (photo: Aurora Potts)

Naturally, Falconiformes are falcons, which are more closely related to songbirds and parrots than they are to any other raptor (believe it or not). Falcons are the speedy and agile birds of prey that use their tomial tooth at the end of their beak to break their prey’s spine. You can see the notch that is the tomial tooth on this Peregrine falcon on exhibit at Stone Zoo.

A Peregrine Falcon on exhibit at Stone Zoo

Even though extinct and extant raptors are hardly related, you can see all these fascinating predators possess many adaptations.   Their unique characteristics allow for a wide variety of species to share the generally speedy seizing and grasping raptorial name in prehistoric times and up to modern day.

Submitted by Aurora Potts, Naturalist/Trainer for World Bird Sanctuary’s Stone Zoo Show

Baton Rouge - Not The City

What type of animal has two legs, flies, and eats road kill?  If you were thinking of a vulture, then you are correct!  In this blog I will be discussing a very special vulture.  His name is Baton Rouge, Baton for short, and he is a very handsome King Vulture (Sarcoramphus papa)!

Baton came to the World Bird Sanctuary in 1998 from the BREC’s Baton Rouge Zoo (hence his name). He was hatched the year before on April 11, 1997.  He has traveled to the North Carolina Zoo, Milwaukie County Zoo, and Boston’s Stone Zoo to fly in educational programs during the summer seasons. 

Anyone who says vultures are ugly has never seen a King Vulture in all it's glorious colors (photo by Lisbeth Hodges)

From his picture you can see his very colorful head.  Having a featherless head for a vulture is very important because of what they eat--carrion.  Carrion (dead animals) has the best pieces of meat inside the body cavity (heart, liver, lungs), so Baton would have to stick his head inside.  When he is done eating, he would just wipe his head on the grass to clean up, simple as that.  At WBS Baton is given a variety of meat such as rabbit, rat, fish, and venison.  He is not a picky eater, but he does seem to favor venison over the others.

How could anyone resist that face?  (photo by Lisbeth Hodges)

When Baton is done eating for the day, he loves to play with sisal rope toys.  And then in the afternoon, he absolutely loves to sun himself at his window.  When he launches himself from his perch during a show audiences are amazed by his impressive 5 foot wingspan.  

Stone Zoo show (photo by Teri Graves)

That pink bulge you see on his chest in the photo below is his crop, where his food is stored, even sometimes for a few hours, before traveling further into his body.

Baton Rouge performing in the WBS amphitheater (photo by Gay Schroer)

Here you can see that crop bulging with a good meal (photo by Lisbeth Hodges)

There are 22 species of vultures in the world, 15 Old World vultures and 7 New World vultures.  New World vultures are from the Americas, while the Old World vultures are from the rest of the world.  King Vultures are found from southern Mexico through Argentina in South America, so they are a New World vulture. 

The King Vulture presumably got its name from their size, and is named for being a messenger to the Mayan gods.  These vultures weigh from 5 to 10 pounds and stand from 27 to 32 inches tall, with females being larger than males.  King Vultures are not sexually dimorphic, meaning that both sexes look the same. 

Female King Vultures will lay one egg each year on the ground and both parents will take turns incubating it and feeding the chick as well.  Lifespan in captivity is around 30 years, but in the wild is unknown.

I hope you learned a little bit about Baton and his species.  They are one of my favorite vultures.  If you love vultures too, then I suggest coming to the World Bird Sanctuary on the first Saturday of September!  We celebrate International Vulture Awareness Day along with many other organizations throughout the world on that day.  Vultures are awesome birds and occupy an important niche in their ecosystems!  Find out why by coming to IVAD!

Baton Rouge is available for adoption in our Adopt a Bird program.  To find out more information, call 636-861-3225.  All adoption donations are tax deductible.  Since during the cold winter months Baton Rouge resides in a heated building in our behind the scenes area, you will need to make an appointment to see him if you are his adoptive parent.

The World Bird Sanctuary is open daily from 8am-5pm every day except Thanksgiving and Christmas.

Submitted by Lisbeth Hodges, World Bird Sanctuary Naturalist

Gilbert and Baton Rouge

When I first met Gilbert and Baton Rouge, our gorgeous King Vultures, I couldn’t stop staring at the beautiful coloration on their heads!  

Baton Rouge, our magnificent King Vulture

I had never imagined such beauty in a vulture.  Before I started working for WBS, I had always thought of vultures as a generally unattractive and gross group of birds.  Seeing these King Vultures for the first time began a change in the way I thought of all vultures.  For example, I noticed that when the sun shines on our new turkey vulture, Kinsey’s feathers, they are not only charcoal black, but blue, green, and purple too!

King vultures have a variety of colors on their head: red, orange, yellow, blue, purple, black.  In addition, the majority of their body is mostly white with a light rose tint, very unlike the other vultures in the new world, which have mostly very dark feathers.  King vultures range from southern Mexico to northern Argentina, inhabiting forests in tropical lowlands. In Mayan mythology, the King vulture is portrayed as a god bringing messages between humans and the other gods!

I am particularly interested in the parenting behavior and courting/mating rituals of animals.  King vultures have quite an elaborate mating ritual, involving a pair circling around each other, wings flapping.  When mating, they can be very loud, with unique snorting and wheezing sounds.  They do not build nests but lay their eggs in stumps, logs or tree crevices.  They normally lay only one egg, and both parents incubate and care for the young.  The parents will store food in their crop and regurgitate it into the chick’s mouth.  As the baby gets older, the parents will regurgitate it onto the ground. Yum!

Since King Vultures are a tropical species and require heated quarters during the winter, they are not on display in areas normally open to the general public.  However, if you come to our Open House in the fall you will be able to see them at our lower site which is open to the public during this one special weekend of the year.  Or, if you are fortunate enough this summer to attend one of our shows at the Milwaukee County Zoo, be sure to look for one of these beautiful birds during the performance.

Submitted by Sara Oliver, World Bird Sanctuary Naturalist