You Know It Is Spring when the Buzzards Return©

 

 

“Turkey Vulture C. a. septentrionalis (Canada)”, Peter K Burian, October 8, 2017, from Wikimedia, HERE.  Note the reddish head and the silvery gray feathers along the edge of its wings.

There are three sure signs that spring is on the way in  the northeastern United States where I live, the sugar maple trees start running (for more on maple syrup, read “Making Maple Syrup and Survival©”, HERE), the snowdrops start poking their white heads up above the snow (for more on snowdrops, read “The Common Snowdrop...the First to Bloom in Spring©”, HERE), and the buzzards circling overhead.

 

“Wait! what?”, you say, “Did I hear that right?”

 

Yes, you did.  You know it is spring when the buzzards return and vultures circling overhead is a sure sign that spring is here.  I first noticed the returning of the vultures way back in 1993, when my wife and I were driving southwest on the I-90, heading to Erie, PA, to the funeral of my grandmother, Florence Damon, who had died on March 29th.  The snow was still melting alongside the thruway, and neither my wife nor I had ever seen so many vultures circling overhead.  I believe that they were feeding on all the winter and road killed deer, which were then melting out of the snowbanks.

 

Turkey and Black Vultures, one of the first signs of spring

 

On the left is the range of the Turkey Vulture (yellow is the summer only range and green is the year-round range) and on the right is the year-around range of the Black vulture.

The return of both the turkey and the black vulture to the northern United States is one of the first signs of spring.  The turkey vulture, cathartes aura, which is the most common vulture in the United States and in Western New York state, where I live, is known in other parts of the United States as a turkey buzzard or simply, as a buzzard.  The other type of vulture that can occasionally be found where I live is the black vulture, or the American black vulture, coragyps atratus.  Both of these vultures are found throughout North, Central and South America, although the turkey vulture has a wider range than the black vulture.

 

Hinckley, Ohio is south of Cleveland (see the red arrow) and it is about 100 miles (161 km) south of Buffalo, from Google Maps, HERE.

In the northern hemisphere, both the turkey and black vultures will winter in the southern portions of their range and return north in the spring.  Since vultures, just like hawks, migrate during the daylight, to better catch the thermals rising off the warming land below them, they are easy to spot.  They return year after year to the same roosts, often on the same day every year!  In Hinckley, Ohio where the buzzards return like clockwork on the March 15^th, they have had a “Buzzard Sunday”, since 1957¹.  In Buffalo, New York, which is about 100 miles (161 km) north of Hinckley, Ohio, the buzzards normally return between March 21^st to March 31^st2.

 

Because vultures return around the vernal equinox, the official start of spring, and which falls on March 19^th, 20^th, or 21^st every year, they are a very good indicator that spring is on the way!

 

Turkey vultures circling overhead, photograph by the Author.

Which vulture is circling over me?

 

A turkey vulture flying, note the silvery-gray feathers of the undersides of the wings, by Kevin Szen, used with permission, it can be found HERE.

So, when you are out and about this spring and you see a large carrion eater circling over your head, how do you know if you have seen a turkey vulture, or a black vulture?  It is easy, if you see a vulture flying overhead, look to see if the underside edges its wings have silvery-gray feathers on them, if they do then it is a turkey vulture.  Black vultures only have silvery-gray feathers on their wing tips.  Also, turkey vultures, since they soar with their wings slightly raised, have wings that will resemble a shallow “V”.  And if you are close enough to see details, turkey vultures have red colored skin on their heads and a wingspan of 63 to 72 inches (160 to 183 cm); black vultures have black colored skin on their heads and are smaller than turkey vultures, with a wingspan of only 51 to 66 inches (130 to 170 centimeters). 

 

A turkey vulture flying, note the shallow “V” of the wings, photograph by the Author.

Some fun facts about vultures...

 

Here are some fun facts about vultures, for more fun facts read “The 2 Types of Vultures Found In New York! (2022)”, HERE.

 

·       * Vultures are nature’s garbage men, and they eat dead carcasses that other predators can’t eat.  By removing this rotting meat from the environment, they help stop the spread of tuberculosis, rabies, and other dangerous diseases.  Vultures have a very powerful stomach acid, which can kill all sorts of pathogens, like Black Plague, anthrax, botulism, or distemper.

 

·      *  Vultures, because they have bald, featherless heads and necks, can stay clean even after sticking their whole head into a carcass in search of tidbits. 

 

·      *  Turkey vultures are called that because their naked red heads, reminded people of wild turkeys (meleagris gallopavo).

 

·      *  Turkey vultures can use their highly refined sense of smell to detect dead and rotting meat from up to 8 miles (13 km) away.  They actually prefer meat that is fresh and will try to get to a carcass as soon as possible.  Turkey vultures only eat carrion, but black vultures like fresh meat and have been known to kill animals like skunks, opossums and young livestock.

 

·     *   To cool themselves off, turkey vultures will defecate on their legs and if they are frightened and have a full belly of rotting meat, which would make it hard for them to takeoff, they may projectile vomit towards a predator’s face to blind it.  As you can imagine this would be both very smelly and gross!

 

·      *  Turkey and black vultures are not capable of making any sounds except hisses or grunts.

 

A turkey vulture flying, note the shallow “V” of the wings, photograph by the Author.

I have been told that in western New York, a good place to view these icons of spring is at St. Peter’s R.C. church in Lewiston, New York.  In fact, I have been told that not only can you see turkey vultures on the trees and rooftop of the church, but that you can see the relatively uncommon black vulture warming themselves, by perching on the chimneys of the houses in the village.  I am planning an expedition to Lewiston, and I will let you know what I find.

 

Don’t forget to come back next week and read “Getting into Wilderness Shape, a Three Month Program ©”, where we will talk about how to get into shape for the upcoming canoeing and backpacking season.

 

I hope that you continue to enjoy The Woodsman’s Journal Online and look for me on YouTube at BandanaMan Productions for other related videos, HERE.  Don’t forget to follow me on both The Woodsman’s Journal Online, HERE, and subscribe to BandanaMan Productions on YouTube.  If you have questions, as always, feel free to leave a comment on either site.  I announce new articles on Facebook at Eric Reynolds, on Instagram at bandanamanaproductions, and on VK at Eric Reynolds, so watch for me.

 

That is all for now, and as always, until next time, Happy Trails!

 

 

Notes

 

¹ While the first official Buzzard Sunday was in 1957, buzzards have been returning to Hinckley, Ohio on March 15^th, since well before then.  In fact, in February of 1957, Cleveland Metroparks patrolman Walter Nawalaniec told the Cleveland Press, that he had personally seen the birds return on March 15^th since 1950, or for the previous six years, and that Charlie Willard, his predecessor, had seen them return on that date for the 25 years before that!

 

From “The First Buzzard Sunday – March 17, 1957”, by The Hinckley Chamber of Commerce

 

² From The Buffalo News, March 10, 2013, “Nature Watch: Migrating birds are returning to Western New York”, by the Staff.

 

Sources

 

Bird Note; “Turkey Vultures on the Move”, March 7, 2020, [© Bird Note 2022], https://www.birdnote.org/listen/shows/turkey-vultures-move#:~:text=Unlike%20most%20of%20our%20returning,teeter%20from%20side%20to%20side, accessed April 15, 2022

 

Bird Watching HQ; “The 2 Types of Vultures Found In New York! (2022)”, [© Bird Watching HQ 2022], https://birdwatchinghq.com/vultures-in-new-york/, accessed April 15, 2022.

 

Staff; “Nature Watch: Migrating birds are returning to Western New York”, March 10, 2013, The Buffalo News, [© Copyright 2022 The Buffalo News], https://buffalonews.com/news/nature-watch-migrating-birds-are-returning-to-western-new-york/article_2fc7973a-6a5c-5a3e-9d9b-1eeb27bf4eff.html, accessed April 15, 2022

 

Szen, Kevin; “Flew the coop”, August 18, 2020, https://www.facebook.com/kevinszen/photos_by, accessed April 21, 2022

 

The Hinckley Chamber of Commerce; “The First Buzzard Sunday – March 17, 1957”, [©2012 - 2022 Hinckley Chamber of Commerce], https://www.hinckleyohchamber.com/buzzard-day/, accessed April 15, 2022.

 

Wikimedia, “Turkey Vulture C. a. septentrionalis (Canada)”, Peter K Burian, October 8, 2017, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Cathartes_aura_(wings_spread)#/media/File:Eastern_Turkey_Vulture_(Canada).jpg, accessed April 15, 2022

 

Wikimedia, “Turkey Vulture Range map”, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Turkeyvulturerange.jpg, accessed April 21, 2022.

 

Wikimedia, “Approximate range of the American Black Vulture”, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:AmericanBlackVultureMap.png, accessed April 21, 2022