North Florida – Wild Florida: Buzzards

I call them buzzards. But they`re not buzzards; they`re vultures. There are no buzzards in the New World. All the real buzzards are over in Africa and Asia. Those familiar birds along the highway are vultures - but I still call them buzzards. Most of us probably do.

We have two kinds of vultures - the black vulture and the turkey vulture. They both have featherless heads which are easier to keep clean considering what they feast upon. They look fairly similar - hunched body shape, dark colors, naked head, glide around up above on thermals - but the turkey vulture has a red head, while the black vulture has a black head. And if they are not on the ground, the black vulture has light wing tips and frequently flaps its wings while soaring. The turkey vulture soars like a pro and does not have to work as hard to maintain the glide.

Turkey Vulture

If you see a vulture in a tree or on a post with its wings spread, it`s probably a turkey vulture. Theoretically, this not only helps them to dry their wings, but it also warms their body, and might aid in killing off some of the bacteria they can`t help but pick up.

Buzzards are generally not solitary birds. They like the company of other buzzards.

They squabble over the dead. They have enough smarts to move their lunch off the highway if possible. I`ve seen a buzzard tugging a mashed opossum on to the shoulder. Once I saw two buzzards trying to get a road-kill raccoon off the road. I don`t think that they were doing a tug-of-war since they were both hooked on to that coon and backing up in the same direction.

The black vulture is less efficient at smelling carrion so it looks for that tell-tale spiral in the sky that indicates dinner. The turkey vulture has a very keen sense of smell compared to the black vulture, which aids them in quickly locating eatables. This is important to the turkey vulture because it will not eat a putrefying carcass. So they get to the carrion first, but the black vulture often drops in uninvited.

Both birds are protected legally by the Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918. They perform a valuable service in the environment by disposing of carrion and it is illegal to take, kill, or possess (possess?) either of them. And leave them alone! One of their main methods of defense is disgorging whatever they have just eaten all over whoever is bothering them ...

So when you see these birds out on the road, enjoy their antics and appreciate them for the macro-garbage disposals that they are!