Column: Some vultures circling while others have moved right along

The idea of writing a column about vultures came to me a little late as I was planning something “creepy” for the Halloween season. It’s not that I’ve blown the deadline on the holiday, however. After all, the spookiest day of the year is still a week away. Rather, by waiting until the middle of October to get started on the assignment, I lost my opportunity to photograph one of the two local subjects of my interest. The black vulture has pretty much flown the coop for the year in these parts. Fortunately for me, there are still a whole mess of turkey vultures hanging around Wayne County as of this writing, presumably waiting for things to die and become dinner.

In my opinion, the black vultures have left a bit too soon. With the white-tailed deer rut about to heat up and bow season already underway, there are apt to be plenty of upcoming opportunities for both roadside buffets (compliments of car bumpers) and woodland picnics (think gut piles).

A warm-weather bird that has only recently made its way into our traditionally cooler climate, the black vulture is less tolerant of cold nights and chilly mornings. Eventually, its cousin, the turkey vulture, a native of our area, will glide southward toward places where the carcasses are always thawed as well. (Could this be the vulture’s idea of heaven?)

Even beyond the threat of his food freezing solid, the vulture benefits from warmer temperatures that provide a better opportunity for step number one in the making of a meal—decay. Decomposition is greatly accelerated by warm weather (with bacteria, blow flies, maggots and the like), and that makes it easier for vultures to tear into things and get to the good stuff. The bald head on both birds is a special hygienic adaptation made for easy clean-up after snacking in those hard-to-reach spots.

I caught up with a seasonally local flock of turkey vultures at the aptly named “Vulture’s Knob Mountain Bike Park” near Wooster, where the highly social birds gather in a large “wake” throughout the summertime and long into the fall season. While many of us are used to seeing the birds in their soaring spirals as they ride thermals high into the sky, most folks rarely get a chance to watch vultures at close range, save for flushing the scavengers from an opossum carcass along the road. The birds can be truly spectacular, even downright beautiful, when observed closely. What appears as a large, awkward, jet-black bird when silhouetted against the sky actually becomes a silvery-gray, translucent marvel when the sun strikes it just right.

The turkey vulture’s 72-inch wingspan approaches that of a bald eagle, but its flying style easily gives it away even from a great distance. The vulture’s dihedral wing posture (a shallow “v” shape) offers stability and lift even at slow speeds and low altitudes while it searches for food using an enhanced sense of smell. The eagle’s flat wing posture is tuned for stable soaring during sight-driven hunts. Even with their differences, it’s not unusual to find both birds circling about on the same pillar of air on summer days. I’ll let you decide for yourself which of the two is the most beautiful.

If you have comments on this column or questions about the natural world, write The Rail Trail Naturalist, P.O. Box 170, Fredericksburg, OH 44627, or email jlorson@alonovus.com. You also can follow along on Instagram @railtrailnaturalist.