What's up with Turkey Vultures ???

[dave b]

I get a little nervous when I see one perched, looking me over. That can't be a good omen.

 

[starman041]

We have black vultures at my place in the country. They don't find food by smell. They have great eye sight.

There is a large dead tree close to my home gun range. One day I was kneeling down to pick up some brass. I happened to look up and saw five vultures sitting in the tree. I swear they were all looking at me. It crossed my mind that they might be thinking "to hell with waiting, let's kill him"!
This one was near the range recently.

 

[Wheelgunner840]

Originally posted by dave b:
I get a little nervous when I see one perched, looking me over. That can't be a good omen.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fjj32CavzU0

WG840

 

[rburg]

Back to the urine on the feet thing. Y'all don't read the Sigforum, do you? If you go there and do a search, you'll find a thread about "Do you wash your toes?" The best answer to that question was "No, the urine sterilizes them." No explanation given, or needed.

 

[gregintenn]

I get a little nervous when I see one perched, looking me over. That can't be a good omen.

I work for the Highway Department. When we see buzzards circling us, we read it as a sign that break's over!

 

[glypnir]

There were some circling over me the other day, when I had the chain backwards of the chainsaw.

As soon as I started to turn it around to the right way, they left. No joke.

I guess I shouldn't really be surprised that a vulture thread turns into an attack Obama thread.

This seems to happen pretty often.

 

[Wheelgunner840]

Originally posted by glypnir:
I guess I shouldn't really be surprised that a vulture thread turns into an attack Obama thread. This seems to happen pretty often.

I read the entire thread three times over. Are you seeing things? The first mention of B.O. as far as I can tell is in your post.

WG840

 

[mwtdvm]

Cajun Lawyer said:

And they do NOT work well in a gumbo.
Don't ask me how I know this Frowner

And their "defense mechanism" when caught/restrained is to vomit(or try to) on the catcher/restrainer. The vomit smells worse than the "meal"
Don't ask me how I know this

 

[7.62foryou]

He means me Wheelgunner. I never miss a chance to insult someone who insults me on a daily basis. (Me thinks we have a president and a congress that does that also, for different reasons though.) Oh so sensitive!

 

[BOB THE PALINDROME]

Just think of it as aged beef....well aged beef.

Alternately consider they are just doing the job that nobody else wants to do.

 

[Mr. Tree]

Reminds me of a Far Side cartoon with a big group of vultures feeding on a carcas. One bird said to the other, "Thank God for ketchup!"

In the 70s while marking timber for harvest in Georgia, I walked up to a very old line shack. Before I could look inside I heard a terrible hissing and banging around then a vulture flew out the back window and landed up in a nearby tree. Inside there were two large speckled eggs on the floor - no nest - that she had been incubating. Almost instantly scads of vultures began circling overhead. I got out of there. Didn't want to get thrown up on! For several days I tried to sneak up on her but she always got out. I did get a series of photos of the eggs. One day there was just one large, pure white, fuzzy chick hissing at me. Got a couple of good photos of the chick but never the mama on the eggs.

 

[Wheelgunner840]

Originally posted by 7.62foryou:
He means me Wheelgunner. I never miss a chance to insult someone who insults me on a daily basis. (Me thinks we have a president and a congress that does that also, for different reasons though.) Oh so sensitive!

My mistake. I didn't even catch your comment (even after three scans!

)

It would make a good choice of state bird for the state of DC though. Fits congress (and B.O.) to a Tee. A Buzzard and turkey mix. Taking from a source that they didn't work to gain, and having brains the size of a pea. Not to mention a resemblance to a certain speaker of the house. Perfect!

I should add, (so Mr. Glypnir does not have to), that this pretty much applies to all politicians throughout history, and is not exclusive to the present bunch of buzzards!

WG840

 

[Capt Steve]

"The Turkey Vulture soars above the ground for most of the day, searching for food with its excellent eyesight and highly developed sense of smell."

Half right. Turkey vultures do not have excellent eyesight. They find their dinner using their excellent sense of smell. Birds of prey such as hawks have excellent eyesight as their dinner is always on the move.

 

[Guest]

We don't have any Breed of Vulture on the Western side of this State other than the two legged kind which are commonly referred to as "Liberal and Abusive and Hostile" but we do have our share of Sea Gulls that do very much the same job as the flying Vultures. It's one of Natures ways of keeping our beaches clean and our cars covered with Poop! They are one member of the Bird Family that doesn't taste like Chicken no matter how you cook it!!!

 

[Wheelgunner840]

KKG,
I can honestly say that I have never heard of anyone ever trying to eat a seagull. On this coast, we refer to them as flying rats. I guess everything in the cycle of life has it's purpose, even the scavengers. I am thinking that the world would smell pretty bad if we didn't have them and the insects to take care of dead things!

WG840

 

[starman041]

Mr.Tree - about 50 yards from the gun range is an old pick up bed type camper that has been there for a long time. I knew it was somewhere around, but had not seen it in many years. I recently re-cut a 4-wheeler trail that runs by the old camper and connects two other trails I use. Two vultures have been hanging around the camper. I am pretty sure they have eggs in there, but I don't have the guts to go look. It is pretty thick woods and these are pretty big birds - I want room to run while I am screaming like a little girl.

 

[dennis40x]

We have more than our fair share of vultures both red and black headed. We are at the beginning of tourist season. A lady commented to me do you every get tired of watching the eagles. I replied no but those aren’t eagles their vultures. Then some turkeys flew over head. (Some one spooked them from the upper field.) She said turkeys can’t fly. I said as a younger child you watched WKRP in Cincinnati. She said how did you know. I replied just a guess on my part.

 

[Al.40cal]

Originally posted by bdGreen:
Turkey buzzards are quite extraordinary. Their sense of smell is the keenest sense they have and it is what brings them to their dinner tables. They can drift in the sky for hours upon hours just by utilizing the updrafts.
They do not kill.
They do not attack.
They don't have talons for picking up their food stuffs.
They just feed off of rotting decaying flesh.
Their featherless head is designed to go into body cavities without gooey stuff sticking to their feathers.
After they induldge in their meals, during flight they urinate on their own legs and feet. The enzymes in the urine aid in killing the bacteria from standing in a body cavity and lunching down.

Amazing creatures. They are well advanced.

bdGreen

Come to Cleveland and you find out that the Turkey Vultures here actually do kill and will attack if you interfere with their meal.

 

[Guest]

Originally posted by Wheelgunner840: KKG, I can honestly say that I have never heard of anyone ever trying to eat a seagull.

Well, I can say it wasn't my first choice but I do tend to "Play by the Rules" and since I was going through part of the Multi-Service Jungle Survival School in Panama at the time and the "Rules" were you ate whatever you caught, well, that pretty much says it all.

 

[Wheelgunner840]

That does explain it!

Any good recipes? Seagull L'orange perhaps?

WG840