Vultures??

Question

do vultures usually travel in packs?

today i saw a vulture eating a bird and then 5 minutes from that area i saw a vulture eating a deer.

and where do they usually live?

i live in NJ.

Answer 1

The typical adult Turkey Vulture is from 66–81 cm (26–32 in) long with a 173–183 cm (68–72 in) wingspan and a weight of 1.4 kg (3.1 lb).[3] It displays minimal sexual dimorphism; sexes are identical in plumage and in coloration, although the female is slightly larger.[21] The body feathers are mostly brownish-black, but the flight feathers on the wings appear to be silvery-gray beneath, contrasting with the darker wing linings.[3] The adult's head is small in proportion to its body and is red in color with few to no feathers. It also has a relatively short, hooked, ivory-colored beak.[22] The irises of the eyes are gray-brown; legs and feet are pink-skinned, although typically stained white. The eye has a single incomplete row of eyelashes on the upper lid and two rows on the lower lid.[23]

The two front toes of the foot are long and have small webs at their bases.[24] The feet are flat, relatively weak, and poorly adapted to grasping; the talons are also not designed for grasping, as they are relatively blunt.[2] In flight, the tail is long and slim, in contrast to that of the Black Vulture. The nostrils are not divided by a septum, but rather are perforate; from the side one can see through the beak.[25] It undergoes a molt in late winter to early spring. It is a gradual molt, which lasts until early autumn.[6] The immature bird has a gray head with a black beak tip; the colors change to those of the adult as the bird matures.[26] The Turkey Vulture may live as long as 21 years in captivity, with the oldest wild captured banded bird being 16 years old.[4]

Leucistic (sometimes mistakenly called "albino") Turkey Vultures are sometimes seen.[27] The well-documented records come from the United States of America, but this probably reflects the fact that such birds are more commonly reported by birders there, rather than a geographical variation. Even in the United States, white Turkey Vultures (although they presumably always turned up every now and then) were only discussed in birder and raptor conservation circles and are not scientifically studied.[28]

The Turkey Vulture, like most other vultures, has very few vocalization capabilities. Because it lacks a syrinx, it can only utter hisses and grunts.[5] It usually hisses when it feels threatened. Grunts are commonly heard from hungry young and from adults in their courtship display.

Distribution and habitat

Turkey Vulture in the Everglades

Turkey Vulture in the Everglades

The Turkey Vulture has a large range, with an estimated global occurrence of 28,000,000 km². It is the most abundant vulture in the Americas.[2] Its global population is estimated to be 4,500,000 individuals.[1] It is found in open and semi-open areas throughout the Americas from southern Canada to Cape Horn. It is a permanent resident in the southern United States, though northern birds may migrate as far south as South America.[4] The Turkey Vulture is widespread over open country, subtropical forests, shrublands, deserts, and foothills.[29] It is also found in pastures, grasslands, and wetlands.[1] It is most commonly found in relatively open areas which provide nearby woods for nesting and it generally avoids heavily forested areas.[3]

Ecology and behavior

Spread-winged adult

Spread-winged adult

The Turkey Vulture is gregarious and roosts in large community groups, breaking away to forage independently during the day. Several hundred vultures may roost communally in groups which sometimes even include Black Vultures. It roosts on dead, leafless trees; though it nests in caves, it does not enter them except during the breeding season.[6] The Turkey Vulture lowers its night-time body temperature by about 6 °C (11 °F) to 34 °C (93 °F), becoming slightly hypothermic.[24]

This vulture is often seen standing in a spread-winged stance. The stance is believed to serve multiple functions: drying the wings, warming the body, and baking off bacteria. It is practiced more often following damp or rainy nights. This same behavior is displayed by other New World vultures, by Old World vultures, and by storks.[7] Like storks, the Turkey Vulture often defecates on its own legs, using the evaporation of the water in the f***s and/or urine to cool itself, a process known as urohydrosis.[30] It cools the blood vessels in the unfeathered tarsi and feet, and causes white uric acid to streak the legs.[31]

The Turkey Vulture has few natural predators. Its primary form of defense is regurgitating semi-digested meat, a foul-smelling substance which deters most creatures intent on raiding a vulture nest.[6] It will also sting if the predator is close enough to get the vomit in its face or eyes. In some cases, the vulture must rid its crop of a heavy, undigested meal in order to take flight to flee from a potential predator.[22]

The Turkey Vulture is awkward on the ground with an ungainly, hopping walk. It requires a great deal of effort to take flight, flapping its wings while pushing off the ground and hopping with its feet.[22] While soaring, the Turkey Vultures holds its wings in a shallow V-shape and often tips from side to side, frequently causing the gray flight feathers to appear silvery as they catch the light. The flight of the Turkey Vulture is an example of static soaring flight, in which it flaps its wings very infrequently, and takes advantage of rising thermals to stay soaring.[32]

[edit] Diet

Turkey Vulture feeding on dead gull

Turkey Vulture feeding on dead gull

The Turkey Vulture feeds primarily on a wide variety of carrion, from small mammals to large grazers, preferring those recently dead, and avoiding carcasses that have reached the point of putrefaction. It may rarely feed on plant matter, shoreline vegetation, pumpkin and other crops, live insects and other invertebrates.[29] It rarely, if ever, kills prey itself.[33] The Turkey Vulture can often be seen along roadsides feeding on roadkill, or near bodies of water, feeding on washed-up fish.[4] It also will feed on fish or insects which have become stranded in shallow water.[6] Like other vultures, it plays an important role in the ecosystem by disposing of carrion which would otherwise be a breeding ground for disease.[34]

The Turkey Vulture forages by smell, an ability that is uncommon in the avian world. It often will fly low to the ground to pick up the scent of ethyl mercaptan, a gas produced by the beginnings of decay in dead animals. The olfactory lobe of its brain, responsible for processing smells, is particularly large compared to that of other animals.[7] This heightened ability to detect odors allows it to search for carrion below the forest canopy. King Vultures and Black Vultures, which lack the ability to smell carrion, follow the Turkey Vulture to carcasses. The Turkey Vulture arrives first at the carcass, or with Greater Yellow-headed Vultures or Lesser Yellow-headed Vultures, which also share the ability to smell carrion. It displaces the Yellow-headed Vultures from carcasses due to its larger size,[34] but is displaced in turn by the King Vulture, which makes the first cut into the skin of the dead animal. This allows the smaller, weaker-billed, Turkey Vulture access to food, because it cannot tear the tough hides of larger animals on its own. This is an example of mutual dependence between species.[35

Reproduction

A Turkey Vulture hatchling in the nest

A Turkey Vulture hatchling in the nest

The breeding season of the Turkey Vulture commences in March, peaks in April to May, and continues into June.[clarify][36] Courtship rituals of the Turkey Vulture involve several individuals gathering in a circle, where they perform hopping movements around the perimeter of the circle with wings partially spread. In the air, one bird closely follows another while flapping and diving.[29]

Eggs are generally laid in the nesting site in a protected location such as a cliff, a cave, a rock crevice, a burrow, inside a hollow tree, or in a thicket. There is little or no construction of a nest; eggs are laid on a bare surface. Females generally lay two eggs, but sometimes one and rarely three. The eggs are cream-colored, with brown or lavender spots around their larger end.[29] Both parents incubate, and the young hatch after 30 to 40 days. Chicks are altricial, or helpless at birth. Both adults feed the chicks by regurgitating food for them, and care for them for 10 to 11 weeks. When adults are threatened while nesting, they may flee, or they may regurgitate on the intruder or feign death.[6] If the chicks are threatened in the nest, they defend themselves by hissing and regurgitating.[29] The young fledge at about nine to ten weeks. Family groups remain together until fall.[29]

Answer 2

Turkey vultures, one of two species that can be found in NJ do in fact live in family groups

Answer 3

Vultures don't really travel in packs 'per-se', but they will do anything to get a good meal. If they see another vulture circling an animal carcass, then they are smart enough to follow.

A group of vultures is occasionally called a venue, and when circling in the air a group of vultures is called a kettle.

Vultures are found on every continent except Antarctica and Oceania, so they live just about everywhere.