Black Vulture Coragyps atratus
Case 2
Black Vulture nestling fostered to a nest with a much older juvenile.
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In the summer of 2004, the Wildlife Center received
another very young juvenile Black Vulture, but this time it took 3
weeks for us to locate a vulture nest to foster the juvenile.
During that time the bird was screened from human contact and was
fed with a fairly life-like hand puppet, but we were unable to
supply it with social stimulus, other than some mirrors and a
stuffed animal. The foster nest was in a horse stall in a vacant
barn in Bibb County, and the other juvenile was several weeks older
than the Wildlife Center’s orphan. The size difference was so great
that I was not at all sure that the smaller bird would be able to
compete for food against the larger and much more experienced nest
mate. Nevertheless, it was the bird’s only hope of reaching
maturity in the wild, so it was worth the risk. The mother bird
flew out of the stall through a high opening as soon as I
approached, and I put the nestling just inside the door of the stall
and stepped back quietly to see what would happen. The older
nestling ran to the far side of the stall and started to growl. I
watched for about 45 minutes, and the older nestling continued to
growl, but made no move to harm the new nestling. I eventually
decided that my presence was a disturbing factor, and it was better
to leave them alone.
I came back the next day to check, and found the mother bird and the smaller nestling standing together on one side of the stall, while the older nestling was still on the far side of the stall. The next day I called the landowner for a report and was told that the two nestlings were now sitting so close together he at first thought there was only one bird. The birds were monitored every few days until they fledged. I was concerned about whether or not the mother bird would continue visit the barn to feed the younger bird after the older one fledged, since the age difference was much larger than would be normal in a brood of Black Vultures. However, the younger bird fledged without incident several weeks after the older one. I conclude that fostering Black Vultures to active nests is both desirable and quite easily done, if you can just find a nest.
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A Final Message
Except for the use of the recorded calls, the techniques described in this handbook are not new. A number of authors have described how to reunite young raptors with their parents, and many wildlife rehabilitators routinely assist juvenile raptors in this way every year. However, the practice is not as widespread as it might be, because of the difficulty of finding the actual nest or locating the young bird’s parents. This frequently discourages wildlife rehabilitators from taking the time in the midst of a busy season, when there are so many demands on their time. Using the recorded calls takes a lot of the guess-work out of those cases where the parents are not still tending other young, and hence can not be easily located. Being able to call in the parents can make it much less time-consuming and much less chancy to reunite juveniles with their parents. I hope it will encourage wildlife rehabilitators and other licensed personnel to make reuniting the number one priority for any healthy juvenile raptor, unless the parents are known to be dead.
At the Alabama Wildlife Center we have completely restructured our Juvenile Raptor Program to make reuniting and fostering our first priority. Every young raptor is carefully screened on admission to ascertain whether or not it can be reunited with its family in the wild. If not, every effort is made to foster the bird, or to set up an on-site hacking station. This shift in emphasis towards reuniting has resulted in a tremendous improvement in our entire program. Fewer birds being raised by the Wildlife Center’s overworked staff makes for better quality of care for the remaining orphans that cannot be fostered or reunited. It also ensures a much less expensive food bill!
Every fledgling raptor faces enormous challenges as it leaves the nest and begins to master the skills of hunting live prey. Even though the hunting instinct is inbred, and does not have to be taught, most fledgling predators lack the experience and physical coordination to hunt successfully, and they require weeks—sometimes months—of practice to become proficient. During this critical period, the protection and support of experienced adults contributes enormously to the young bird’s chances of survival.
Band returns have proven that young raptors that are hacked out or raised in a flight cage and offered live prey can survive in the wild for a normal life span. But the wild-raised juvenile will always have the advantage. The goal of all wildlife rehabilitators is to give their wildlife patients the best chance of surviving when returned to the wild. By this basic rule, reuniting a juvenile raptor with its parents should be the wildlife rehabilitator’s highest priority. The author plans to continue to refine and document this technique, and would appreciate hearing from others who make use of it. Her email address is amiller@awrc.org.
Suggested Reading
Bent, A. C. 1937. Life Histories of North American Birds of Prey, Parts One and Two. New York, NY: Dover Publications, Inc.
Dobkin, D.S. and P. Ehrlich, et al. 1988. The Birder’s Handbook, pp. 155 and 157. New York, NY: Simon and Schuster, Inc.
Johnsgard, P. A. 1988. North American Owls, Biology and Natural History. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution Press.
Johnsgard, P. A. 1990. Hawks, Eagles, and Falcons of North America. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution Press.
McKeever, Katherine. l987. Care and Rehabilitation of Injured Owls, pp. 154–156. Lincoln, Ontario, Canada: W. F. Rannie.
Snyder, N. and H. Snyder. 1991. Birds of Prey, Natural History and Conservation of North American Raptors. Stillwater, MN: Voyageur Press, Inc.
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