BLACK VULTURES
Case 1
Nestling Black Vulture fostered to nest at Noxubee NWR
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Teaching the hatchling to feed from the beak |
A follow-up visit to the shed showed the adopted orphan was doing well |
A hatchling Black Vulture from Tennessee was brought to The Wildlife Center when it was two days old. The egg had been found in a barn, and the farmer had hatched the egg under a lamp. The nestling had never had contact with another vulture. The next day (day three), its eyes were beginning to open, and I could tell it was quite aware of its surroundings. It was beginning to be aware that humans were the source of food. In most juvenile raptors this stage of development takes 10 days to 2 weeks. Professor Jerry Jackson, then at The University of Mississippi at Starkeville, put me in touch with a biologist at Noxubee National Wildlife Refuge, in Mississippi, who knew of a nest site on the refuge.
We could not arrange to make the trip until the following weekend, so we had to make sure that the bird could behave normally once placed in the substitute nest with another sibling. In particular, we wanted make sure he would know how to take the food from the mother’s beak. We fashioned a “beak” out of a piece of black rubber hose with a slit down both sides and one end trimmed to a point (see picture). The beak could be held in one hand, which was then wrapped in a black cloth. Finely chopped rodent was stuffed into the “beak”, and then presented to the hatchling vulture. The young bird had no trouble taking the meat out of the beak, and a few days later I drove to Noxubee with the assistance of David, who placed the bird in the “nest”, the floor of a rotting shed covered with kudzu. The mother bird was in the shed, but was flushed from the building by the biologist. The other nestling appeared to be at least a week older than our nestling, but the size difference was minimal, and the birds interacted well. As soon as we stepped away from the nest area, the mother vulture returned, and took a guarding position over her new nestling. David monitored the juveniles for several months, and sent us pictures of the birds as they gained size. Both birds fledged successfully.*
Case 2
Black Vulture nestling fostered to a nest with a much older juvenile
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Mirrors provide an appropriate image for young nestling |
The vulture nest was located in this barn in Bibb County, Alabama |
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Nestling introduced into stall |
Older nestling moved to the far end of the stall and growled |
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Follow-up photo of adopted nestling vulture in his new home |
In the summer of 2004, I received another very young juvenile Black Vulture, but this time it took 3 weeks for me 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 considerable, and I was quite worried that the smaller bird would be unable to compete for food against the larger and much more experienced nest mate. Nevertheless, it seemed the bird’s only hope of reaching maturity in the wild, so I felt that it was worth the risk. I put the nestling just inside the door of the horse stall and watched from a tactful distance. The mother bird flew out of the stall through a high opening as soon as I had approached, and when I put the nestling inside, 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 to leave them alone, but came back the next day. The mother bird and the smaller nestling were standing on one side of the stall, and the older nestling was still on the far side of the stall. The next day I called the landowners 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 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 just about foolproof, if you can just find a nest.*
*text by Executive Director Anne Miller