vultures

[jdywntr]

Recently I have seen a hawk in the lone tree in the middle of the back half of the property. I put up what I hope will be a deterant of fishing line with various things attached. I have not seen the hawk in about 1 week. For the last 2 days though, I have seen the vultures flying relatively low close to the birds area. So, I decided to do some internet searching.

There are 2 types of vulture here year round, the turkey vulture and the black vulture. While both vultures eats carrion, the black vulture will also kill and eat small animals!

How did I not know that there was another predator constantly flying around out there. I found articles and pretty gruesome pictures of some of the damage that black vultures can do. One person had 5 goats killed in the same spot, the oldest was 5 months old so not a tiny baby! They have been known to kill calves! Apparently these birds hunt by sight and will land and walk to kill an animal.

Now I am concerned about my dogs (all small breeds) and my birds as well. Has anyone had any problems with vultures?

 

[Kevin565]

We have black vultures down here. They've flown near my pens and ducks plenty of times over the years. I've yet to see them attempt to harm my birds in any way.

 

[Going Bhonkers]

I live in an area where vultures fly over daily. Never had any problem with them, even when I my goslings were tiny. It seems that they just fly and do a scan of the area, sometimes they go lower in altitudes than other times, but it looks like they're just scanning for any critter that's no longer moving. I dont think they like to work for their food in terms of hunting down and fighting.

 

[ducklucky]

I've never heard of vultures actually killing an animal, they may come in and finish it off if it is injured. Usually they're looking for an easy meal where something else has done the hard work (the hyenas of the sky). Would def be wary of the hawk, at this time of year there are still young inexperienced ones hanging around, and they tend to be more bold. I've had one fly about 10 feet above my head with the ducks by my side, so...hanging the wire with shiny things like aluminum pie tins works ok, going to make a scarecrow with pie plates hanging off his arms. Would think the black vultures are just going around looking for fresh kill or near kill. They can put some damage on a carcass big time and in no time flat Keep your birds under cover and stagger their outings.

 

[jdywntr]

I've never heard of vultures actually killing an animal, they may come in and finish it off if it is injured. Usually they're looking for an easy meal where something else has done the hard work (the hyenas of the sky). Would def be wary of the hawk, at this time of year there are still young inexperienced ones hanging around, and they tend to be more bold. I've had one fly about 10 feet above my head with the ducks by my side, so...hanging the wire with shiny things like aluminum pie tins works ok, going to make a scarecrow with pie plates hanging off his arms. Would think the black vultures are just going around looking for fresh kill or near kill. They can put some damage on a carcass big time and in no time flat Keep your birds under cover and stagger their outings.

This is exactly what I thought until I did more research. But there are well documented cases of black vultures killing livestock. They don't hunt by smell but by sight. It freaks me out whenever I see them flying low over the property now that I know what I know.

I haven't seen the hawk in a while. There is only one tree on the back half of the property, the rest is pasture.

 

[Amiga]

jdywntr, I feel you are right to be concerned. I have also read about how aggressive black vultures can be. They used to only be south of us, but now we regularly see them here in addition to the turkey vultures.

Be careful.

 

[jdywntr]

jdywntr, I feel you are right to be concerned. I have also read about how aggressive black vultures can be. They used to only be south of us, but now we regularly see them here in addition to the turkey vultures.

Be careful.

Thanks Amiga.
I only started looking into it when they were flying so low over areas that I knew had no dead/dying animals. That, to me is not a carrion searching creature but, to me, it is another predator. Frankly, from what I've read they are just as bad or maybe worse than a hawk.
Black Vultures are big and carry a number of diseases in their droppings. Agh!!! I hate to think about it.

 

[Amiga]

It's always something . . . . .

 

[sherrybintally]

I had a hawk kill one of my ducks a couple months ago. Sad, very sad. At Walmart you can buy this shiny reflective silver tape that is used to string in fruit trees to keep birds away. We strung several pieces of it from one thing to another. The wind blows it and it moves the tape around even with the slightest breeze. We have an outdoor camera and I saw it through it and it actually looked like something running through the yard. It seems like a great deterrent, but I will never be fully convinced. If you have seen one hawk, there's more and they will stay. A hawk mates for life so his/her lover is around there too and soon there will be babies. I also read to move things around to change up the scene. I put bird netting over my duck run and they are rarely out now for very long without me being out there. It's an inconvenience and they miss their free range lifestyle. I almost convinced myself the hawk had moved on and then last week, there he was sitting in a tree screeching that high pitched screech warning me that it's still not safe. I don't guess there's anyway to get them to move on. Oh, I also read that whirly-gigs are good deterrants.

 

[Shewholovesducks]

Theres a black vulture pair that comes to our house every day, we even named one "Vinny" its been coming for years and now that I got ducks in April since i put them out he comes by every day and even sits near their pond and drinks their water (my mom says he eats their food but I've never seen him). I wonder if he's trying to figure out a way to kill them or if he's just fascinated with them? I had no idea they were predators to anything other than cats! Yikes!