Saturday, September 22, 2007

To be a buzzard

Yesterday when I was leaving work, I saw a turkey vulture flying very low over the grassy area near the back of the parking lot; he couldn't have been more than 25 feet off the ground. This is the closest I've ever come to a TV, so I hopped in the car and drove nearer back there, trying to watch him as I went (maybe 100 yards). He was alone, as far as I could see, and I don't know if I scared him or what, but he kinda drifted back farther toward the road and away from me, still flying low. I had to keep my eye on him from crazy angles inside the car (through the windshield and the side windows and the moon roof), and in that time, the TV disappeared. I mean, he absolutely vanished. There was no place for him to hide; I didn't see him on the ground or in the small trees. He just vanished! I was bummed, both that I didn't have my camera and that I might've scared him off of some food source he'd found.

I drove away, trying to get a broader non-car-blocked view of the area, and he was still just gone. I don't know where he went, but he went there FAST.

To me, turkey vultures are both beautiful and somewhat repellent. As Linda mentioned in a comment on the Power Bird quiz post, vultures in flight are quite beautiful: large, with a broad wingspan and delicate fingerlike primary feathers spread out at the wing tips. They rarely flap their wings, instead just floating along on wind currents. Whenever Kat and I are driving somewhere and I see a turkey vulture, I always say, "Look, an eagle! Soaring majestically! ... in a circle!" It's our little birding joke, because I always used to make every large bird into an eagle to make it seem more exciting and because I'd never actually seen an eagle yet.

TVs (I've never seen a black vulture, so I'm limiting my discussion to turkey vultures) always seem to fly so slowly, preferring to drift instead of actively flap their wings to get someplace. It looks like they go where the wind takes them, stopping only when they get that scent: the scent of death. This is where the "somewhat repellent" part comes in, but still I'm fascinated. I read in one of my forensic science books that vultures (and some insects) can smell death even before it comes. What exactly is it that they smell--blood? I can understand that, because blood emits a powerful scent to a predator; but sometimes an animal's injuries are internal or he's just sick and dying, so there's no blood. How do the vultures find that animal out there in the vast expanses of a desert or a valley and thus begin their circling dance? My forensic science book didn't say how the animals and insects did it, just that they can.

How does it work? What it is about a flying vulture that can sense death miles away, float toward it on the wind, and then circle above it until (gulp) it happens?

16 comments:

Lynne at Hasty Brook said...

I think I read some where that there is a shift in blood pH prior to death that is detectable to TV's. I do know that there is a distinct odor on the breath of people with keto-acidosis. I work in a hospital laboratory and have smelled ketones on breath, in urine and even when tubes of blood are opened.

Susan Gets Native said...

Lynne is right on. There are a myriad of chemical changes just prior to death, and even more so if the death is a traumatic one. (Like a rabbit being chased by an RT...you know the chemicals are pumping then!)
TV's are amazing. They can find a decomposing animal body under a full forest canopy, without even seeing it.
The Garbage Men of the animal world.

Anonymous said...

LOL--I bet my pal sitting next to me that the 1 comment here would be by Lynne--I win!

Turkey Vultures are beautiful. :)

Cup said...

I've often been fascinated by those same instincts. I've read in many a novel/seen in a movie the vulture hovering around someone seriously injured.

Fran said...

Another lovely post... I have seen these birds a few times in my life, although I am not "watching".

Fascinating and thought provoking.

dguzman said...

You know, I was betting that Lynne and Susan would be the ones to respond with the good info! Thanks to you both. Incredible, isn't it? Good thing we have these carrion-feeders, or we'd be knee-deep in roadkill.

Welcome Helena! You too must know Lynne's line of work!

Beth, are you thinking of one of my favorite books, Faulkner's As I Lay Dying? Darkly funny, that one.

pissed off patricia said...

Having worked at a wildlife hospital for some years I know a little secret about tv's. When they are injured and you pick them up, they will throw up on you. Considering what they eat, this is about the grossest thing that can happen to you.

dguzman said...

PoP: Gross! I've read about the buzzard puke on Birdchick's site. That's awful. They also pee on their feet; the acid kills any bacteria etc. that might have come from the carrion.

Weird birds.

Lynne at Hasty Brook said...

Cool post Delia- that's why I loves me turkey vultures!

Lynne at Hasty Brook said...

Take a look at the TV photos that Jayne has posted at

http://journeythroughgrace.blogspot.com/2007/09/vultures-vultures-everywhere.html

(someone needs to teach me how to put links in comments!)

Susan Gets Native said...

I have experienced the splendor that is vulture vomit. Earl got me good once. Damn bird.
But that's the only true vulture behavior she exhibits. Otherwise, she thinks she is a person.

Mary said...

I find them to be interesting and majestic, too. In the last six months or so, I've been close to black vultures while they clean up a death. What I would love to do is get a good photo of their take-off in flight because the wing span is breathtaking! I, too, have often wondered how they find a meal and now I learned about chemical changes before and after death.

pissed off patricia said...

They do have some what we would consider gross habits, but where would we be without their clean up services?

They like to gather on screened pool enclosures and pull the rubber ribbing out that holds the screen to the aluminum posts. No one has figured out why they do it. When I worked at the wildlife hospital, we would get complaint calls about this strange habit. Having that screen replaced is costly too.

dguzman said...

Mary: "clean up a death" -- I like that wording.

PoP: I wonder why. Maybe Susan knows?

Larry said...

Interesting post and interesting comments as well.-I never thought about that aspect of t.v.'s.-I learned something new.

Anonymous said...

[url=http://kfarbair.com][img]http://www.kfarbair.com/_images/_photos/photo_big7.jpg[/img][/url]

בית מלון [url=http://www.kfarbair.com]כפר בעיר[/url] - שלווה, [url=http://www.kfarbair.com/about.html]חדרים[/url] מרווחים, אינטימיות, [url=http://kfarbair.com/services.html]שקט[/url] . אנחנו מספקים שירותי אירוח מגוונים גם ישנו במקום שירות חדרים הכולל [url=http://www.kfarbair.com/eng/index.html]אחרוחות רומנטיות[/url] במחירים מיוחדים אשר מוגשות ישירות לחדרכם...

לפרטים אנא לפנות לאתרנו - [url=http://kfarbair.com]כפר בעיר[/url] [url=http://www.kfarbair.com/contact.html][img]http://www.kfarbair.com/_images/apixel.gif[/img][/url]