Turkey Vultures in the City?

Was driving down my very urban street yesterday and stopped cold to see a Turkey Vulture calmly strutting up the sidewalk. He mosied around for awhile while I watched, clearly uncomfortable at my presence, then I noticed why he stayed--squirrel pancake roadkill. I've never seen a Turkey Vulture in the city, (though anyone who reads this forum regularly know I encounter hawks and other raptors...). Is this common? This bird appeared to be in great shape--no reason for him to be desperately scavenging 20 feet from humans unless that was the norm, for him.

Experts--do Turkey Vultures adapt commonly to urban environments?

Yup! And what you described is exactly why I keep a shovel, hefty garbage bags, disposable latex gloves, and thick gloves in my trunk. I have no qualms getting out of my car and shoveling up or dragging a dead animal over to the shoulder of the road. Vultures simply don't seem to be able to get out of the path of a vehicle cruising down these roads at the speed limit plus about 15 or 20 like a crow can. It sickened me the one time I saw a Turkey Vulture that had been reduced to a postage size thickness thanks to some moron who wasn't paying attention to the huge black form in the middle of the road. That dead TV was right next to a dead deer. Now, dead deer are a little bit more difficult to get over to the shoulder of the road particularly if parts of them were run over by a second car and ground down into the asphalt. Adding insult to inury, the bambis in this area are larger than they are farther northy because of all the corn fields here in Illinois. I've got a pair of gloves I keep to try to grab a dead deer by the legs to drag it over. Sometimes people stop and help. Sometimes they just whiz by.

I used to have a pair of TVs that visited me regularly. In an attempt to encourage them to stay on my property; I did scrape up dead raccoons, cats, and opossums off the road to bag and bring home to my babies. I haven't seen our TVs in a few years though which is a shame because they are magnificent birds.

It just amazes me how so many animals adapt....I have a freshly killed squirrel outside my house today--waiting to see what comes to take it! I'm not so good as you--I only stop to make sure the road kill is really dead (so far, it always has been....cars 1000 animals 0). I can see what you mean, though. No way that TV could have gotten out of the way of anything with those big, clumsy wings. You're also right when you say that there is no way you could not see them--I saw this bird from at least a block a way. In fact, that wasn't even the way I was supposed to go, but since I saw him, I had to go investigate. My bird of prey count in my almost downtown neighborhood to date: Red-Tailed Hawks (numerous), Turkey Vulture and Goshawk, one other unidentifiable hawk. And that is only what I've spotted in less than two years...Wow!

Well, try something for me please... if you ever see a dead opossum on the road, please flip it over and check the pouch for babies. The first time you find life will make it all worth while and you will be a convert to checking "road kill" for the rest of your life.

You're right--never thought about doing that. Good thought...will do, from now on. I'll be thinking of you the first time I flip over some maggot-infested, icky thing!!

Thata girl! You go right ahead and think of me as you're flipping over dead opossums. I can't describe to you the sense of awe you will experience when one day you actually find babies that are still alive. There are people here at DG who can coach you on caring for the babies, it's not all that difficult and in many ways orphaned opossums are considerably easier than bottle feeding orphaned kittens and definitely easier than bottle feeding orphaned rabbits.

Buy yourself a box of disposable latex gloves and toss them in your trunk. They're cheap enough. I keep a regular old cat carrier in my trunk as well as old bath and beach towels that are tattered and torn that nobody wants to use any longer. Great place to stash any babies you find until you can get home and you can wrap them up in the towels.

Gloves--have to get those. I always have leash and food (for strays), old towels (kids, strays, spilled coffee-me) and miscellaneous "useful" items. Adding the gloves to my list....cheers!

A raccoon we had been seeing regularly was hit last night. Today Black Vultures found it and not too long after I took this pic Animal Control came by and removed the raccoon.

Way to go gardenpom! Another good reason to slide their food over to the side... so Animal Control doesn't come and take their din din ;) The vultures you photographed look really great. They sure are great clean up crews.

Excellent photo!

I thought it a shame they were not left to finish what they started...but I guess someone found it offensive.

Any chance of getting you to stash a shovel in your trunk? Just a few feet onto private property usually does it.

This was near my home. Next time I will remember that. I like the idea of keeping gloves in the car, though. I'll get some.

Wow--a feeding frenzy! Great pic, thanks for sharing it!

I saw a Turkey Vulture the other day while driving home...I was in awe of how big this bird was!
He(or she) stopped traffic-it was a back road, not too many cars...he was eating something on the side of the road and three cars stopped to look-I have never seen one before...the people ahead of me I guess never did either because they are the ones that stopped. We didn't make him to happy though, he flew off after a few seconds but wow, that was amazing too-what wing span!

Aggie

Yes, that wingspan is what got my attention, too....

Hello! I see that this is an old thread but I was excited to find someone else who likes turkey vultures! I have both TVs and black vultures around my house and have taken to scooping (fresh) roadkill (herbivores only) and placing it at the back of my property for the vultures to eat in safety. I too saw a speeding car completely ignore the group that had gathered around an armadillo in the road. Luckily I got to them first so they had begun to move away before the speeding car came by. She would have hit them all and I was so upset. I moved the armadillo to the grass and the next one I saw, I grabbed it and brought it home. They're really fascinating to watch. The most I have seen at one time was about 30 gliding overhead.

Anything that the vultures leave seems to disappear within a day or two. Plenty of other critters roaming around here to clean up any scraps.

http://vulturesociety.homestead.com/index.html

And speaking of opossum babies...here's a photo to encourage opossum rescue. I don't know the origin of the photograph. My daughter sent it to me. Aren't they adorable?!

Wow, LizaMouse--what a great site! I learned alot. Since this post was started, I've also come across another Turkey Vulture on a residential street, calming snacking on a squirrel carcass as cars went by. Fortunately, because it was a quiet residential street, and he was off a bit to the side, just at a corner, there was plenty of room to get around him and he was safe.

By the way Equilibrium--I'm on the look out for dead mama opossums now that Spring is just around the corner, thanks to you! Got my shovel and gloves! My spouse thinks I'm nuts going around looking at roadkill......but he's a big softie, if I ever actually find any babies, he'd think it was cool (though he probably wouldn't touch them!).

Isn't it cool? I googled TVs after walking out back to find a bunch of them hanging out for no apparent reason. I've always carried leashes in my car for stray/lost dogs and now I have gloves and a roll of garbage bags for the vulture snacks. I sure do get some strange looks though when I scooping squirrels and armadillos! I'll have to get a container and start checking the opossums. We raise a few baby squirrels every year at the vet clinic.

I've never seen a vulture in an urban area but they seem to be really calm birds. They're certainly calm enough hanging out in my back yard. Sometimes they make my cats a little nervous though.

For those newly dedicated to rescuing orphaned opossum babies, kudos! As Equil said, it is amazing the first time you check a dead mama and find babies still trying desperately to suckle. For your first time, be aware that the babies really lock on to mama's nipple; it takes some effort and lots of gentle manuevering to get them loose. I was pretty shocked the first time, and thought you might want to be forewarned. If the babies you find are still in the pouch, and are hairless and look more like fetuses than babies, they are much more difficult to raise successfully; would recommend getting them to a wildlife rehabber or a wildlife-friendly vet promptly. Keeping the babies warm is critical, especially when hairless; they've lost the benefit of mama's body to keep them warm. Good luck, and enjoy!
Ruth

Thanks Ruth! I'm lucky because I happen to work for a wildlife friendly veterinary clinic and you can be sure I'll check those unfortunate opossum mommies in the future. I encourange everyone to do the same! We successfully raise and re-hab squirrel babies every year. No reason we can't do the same for opossums.

Holly

So, I've been wondering, now that its March--should I start checking for babies? Birds are nesting here, and I suspect the squirrels are having their babies about now--when do oppossums have their babies? Passed a few road kills the past few days....

Definitely yes, yotedog. In a warmer climate like Raleigh's, possums can breed pretty much year-round. They are only pregnant for the blink of an eye, so to speak, because the babies are quite undeveloped when first born. It's amazing to realize that the blind, deaf, hairless newborns find their way immediately after birth into mama's pouch, where they lock on to a nipple and feed and feed for weeks as they grow and develop.

Holly, you're in an ideal position to help the orphans, given your workplace! If memory serves, the wildlife rehabbers I used to work with used dog milk replacer (Esbilac or equivalent) for both squirrel and opossum babies.
Ruth

Yes, that's what we use for the squirrels. We also take in orphan kittens and bottle feed them if necessary. The doctors do set a limit on how many orphans we can have at a time but we have something most all summer.

Sounds like you're with a clinic that is truly animal-friendly (you'd think that's a given, but I've found that it's not); that's awesome. And yes, limits are essential; too many orphans could mean no time for staff to care for the paying patients, and that would be bad (lol)-
Ruth

There are lots of us TV lovers out here...I jus love watching them soar over my house everyday!

Great shot, nanny; they are truly awesome birds-
Ruth

Our doctors are great. I'm proud to be associated with them. And yes, all veterinarians are (sadly) not created equally. But the TVs rule! Vulture Valley will be a forever fixture in my landscape!

P.S. We got our first batch of baby squirrels in today.

Wow, seems late for the first baby squirrels. One of the rehabbers I worked with up in northern VA always hoped for her first baby squirrels as a Valentine's gift, and our shelter was almost always able to oblige. Hope the babies will do well for you!