There are Turkey Vultures in my neighborhood...

[zanne]

Do you think one of those things could pick up a cat? I'm a little worried. I have three indoor/outdoor cats, and I'd hate to see one of them being hauled off.

[EstimatedProphet]

1. Nah

Don't worry unless your cat is dead

[BrotherBuzz]

29. A vulture was boarding a plane.....

When the flight attendant stopped him and said, "Sorry sir, only one carrion allowed".

bada-bing · Rim-shot

:hide:

[Solon]

2. They feed on carrion not live animals, and they also have the most sensitive...

sense of smell in the vertebrate animal kingdom. To smell out dead animals.

[zanne]

5. It's so strange that they're here.

I'm glad they don't like live cats. It's kind of a strange situation here. I'm in the city, but there's a park across the street from me with a huge rock formation (called Rock Rimmon). People practice climbing on it alot. It's pretty big...I'd say at least a four-story house high. Anyway, these buzzards have just been circling around it for a few weeks now. I wonder if there could be something quite large that's dead up there?

[Solon]

7. They could be feeding off of a rock climber up there who had an accident...

OK, that's pretty gross. But, on a more serious note, they are probably a few ground species(bears, deer), in your area, and some of them may have died recently, drawing the birds. They have the largest "noses" in the Animal Kingdom, in relation to size, and can smell out dead animals for up to 10 miles away.

By the way, if you want to hear about weird, this past January, I saw a Pelican in Missouri, flying like there was nothing unusual about it. Just one of those species you absolutely CANNOT mistake for any other, just weird.

[zanne]

8. Well, there was a climbing accident a few years ago....

But I know they removed the body. So, you saw a Pelican in Missouri? Where are those phone cameras when you need one?

[Solon]

11. I know, I wish I took a camera...

I don't have a cell phone, but damn, there was no mistaking the thing was flying LOW, maybe 10-15 feet above my car. It flies over my car, from back to front, and I all of the sudden see this big white bird, with a long beak and a flabby pouch under that beak, I actually rubbed my eyes and looked again, then it flew towards around a hill and was gone. Most of the big birds we see around here are hawks and eagles, you see plenty of them when springs comes around, but this was winter! It was amazing!

[Roon]

14. We have pelicans here in Denver

I thought it was weird too, but yet kinda cool!!!

[zanne]

18. I would LOVE to see a Pelican! nt

[pink-o]

37. Pelicans are AWESOME birds!

...years ago, a friend of mine ran a bird sanctuary and I got up close and personal with this pelican that she rescued. It's chest feathers were so soft and downy they felt like mammal fur, and the bird loved being stroked and petted. It followed me around all day--I swear I was ready to take it home.

She also had a Turkey Vulture, who though truly ugly had a great personality as well. It's true they're no threat to anything live--but check this out: my friend in Atlanta was walking his minature daschund, and a red-tailed hawk swooped down and flew away with it! Luckily, the dog was too heavy, and the bird dropped it pretty quick. Doggie unhurt except for talon lascerations, and a lot of trauma. OTOH, my friend almost had a heart attack.

[Gormy Cuss]

10. You're probably not that far from a waterway either.

Water + undeveloped land in a park = plenty of wildlife out there, especially small rodents and the like, and probably a steady supply of road kill and leftovers from what the other critters kill. A four story rock probably attracts hawks and they'll kill lots of birds and rodents. Vultures circle areas where they've found food before. They are carrion eaters and have no interest in your cats. Worry if there are coyotes spotted in the area because they will go after the kitties.

[Roon]

15. My parents have lost three kitties to coyotes

and my step-brother's Mother lost her little lap dog to a coyote. :cry:

[Gormy Cuss]

20. In my current neighborhood, it's the first sign of a food shortage in the adjacent parkland.

"Missing Cat" signs appear. If the owners are lucky the coyote eats the cat somewhere else and don't leave any remnants. Every so often a small dog is hunted in its own yard. Their normal food sources are ground squirrels and young or injured deer.

[China_cat]

17. Last week we had one munching on a dead squirrel

in the street in front of the house. We're in town.

[hunter]

34. Sometimes they are attracted to natural gas leaks, or other similar smells.

But maybe it's just good thermals. They'll ride one high and then coast down to wherever they are going, many miles away sometimes. Or it could simply be a meeting place for them.

Vultures are among my favorite birds. They've got interesting personalities.

[AndreaCG]

3. Lynne Cheney and Ann Coulter are in your neighborhood?

[barb162]

4. I put nothing past a hungry animal ,so keep the cats in I think.

[MnFats]

6. they are ugly creatures but at least they pick up carrion etc. from the streets.

last time at the ancestral home W-Mn. i saw about six of them circling around SOMETHING about 75 to 100 yards off the freeway.
waiting, waiting....
...it was like a scarey scene from an old Western.

GAWD but they're ugly.
but like some other birds i think they've been coming back ... maybe less DDT or something...

[zanne]

9. I was hoping they were eagles or falcons...

Then I looked through my binoculars and saw the ugliest birds I've ever seen--their faces look like raw hamburger.

[Kali]

12. No they don't have much of a grip

Black vultures will kill stuff, though - especially new-borns or animals down for some reason. They will peck out eyes and then rip at soft parts. Turkey vultures don't do this.

[BarenakedLady]

13. They are all over around here

They won't bother with anything that is alive. They like smelly dead things.

[sarge43]

16. They're not predators; they're janitors.

Your cats are perfectly safe, at least from them.

[zanne]

19. Thanks, sarge. Good to know. nt

[sarge43]

21. You're welcome, zanne

Actually, jays and mockingbirds are more of a threat to cats. I've seen mockers pursue and peck a cat into hysterics.

[sarge43]

36. By the way, Turkey Vultures are one of the few birds that find

their food primarily by sense of smell. So din-din has to be dead-dead before they put on the bib and tucker.

[Wcross]

22. Something died.

They don't go after live feed. My dogs always bark at large birds, we have hawks, owls and eagles in the area. Any one of those birds will take a pup or kitten.

[Skittles]

23. they're so hideous up close

but I find it mesmerizing to watch them glide in the air

[Lisa]

27. I had to look after one once -- he had beautiful eyes!

Sound just like Bush, don't I ... but it's true. "Socrates" had a naked red head, but dark amber eyes, and lovely delicate eyelashes. Seeing him up close, he had an amazing variety of different shapes and textures of feathers -- flight feathers, smooth contour feathers, soft wispy down.

Re: what the original poster wondered, I don't think a turkey vulture would go after anything as big as a domestic pet, unless it had been run over and was near death. Sometimes there were rats or mice running around the flight cage -- the bald eagle in the next enclosure caught one, but Soc would just sit on his perch and ignore them.

[mopinko]

24. they are quite common

and they probably like the air currents on that hill.

[lost-in-nj]

25. They are UGLY

sumbitches....


BLECH, I have them here to
along with wild turkeys.....



lost

[cloudbase]

31. They are indeed ugly.

They're great for marking thermals when flying a sailplane, though. A pilot's friend when the lift is hard to find.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

26. They don't hunt....

They clean up carrion. Vultures are very intelligent creatures. I've occasionally gotten close enough to commune with them without frightening them away.

[Lisa]

28. I'd be way more worried about great horned owls ...

Those things have been known to go for cats. Turkey vultures would rather have something that's too dead to make a fuss -- or even things like squashes and pumpkins.

[Maestro]

30. Don't worry about it.

New world vultures like the turkey vultures have very weak talons. They are good for one thing and one thing only, holding down carrion as the vulture tears the flesh. The talons are far too weak to carry live prey.

[Lisa]

32. the director of the veterinary program came for a photo-op one day ...

With the local media in tow, he decided he wanted to take Socrates (the turkey vulture I had volunteered to look after) out of his enclosure. He solemnly "armoured up" with the heavy reinforced leather gauntlet that we used when handling the bigger birds, like the bald eagle and great horneds. The chief wildlife vet watched him, without saying a word, but she had a funny smile on her face. When everybody was out of earshot, she whispered to me, "if he spent more time around here, he'd know he doesn't need a glove for Soc". (The other volunteers and I would just let him perch on our arms or shoulders, because as you point out, vultures have much weaker talons ... and usually blunt, because they spend a lot more time on the ground, walking around, than eagles do!)

Socrates did have a fairly sharp beak, but the only person I ever saw him snap at was my boyfriend. (I later found out that the dude was cheating on me ... maybe Soc saw it coming before I did!)

[Maestro]

33. I think Socrates knew more than the vet.

:rofl:

[zanne]

35. Your work sounds fascinating.

Sometimes animals have such keen powers of observation, huh? Yay for Socrates!

[TZ]

38. Turkey vultures vs. Black vultures

Turkey vultures are not a threat. HOWEVER if you see any black vultures (smaller, black not red head) be very careful. Those vultures have been known to prey on pets and have been known to hunt in flocks (this happens in rural Virginia).