A Vulture's Foul Feast

A few days ago as I was arriving home, I noticed a large group of visitors near the river. I couldn't help but to be a little curious about what attracted them. After my son drifted off into his much needed nap, I stepped out to see what the vultures were up to. The time I spent with these grotesque guests was all that I expected it might be...visually and olfactorily offensive. The American Black Vulture....its not so pretty...

...even when its young.

Carrion, it's what's for dinner! The large group of Black Vultures had gathered together to dine upon a washed up, deceased Armadillo. Unlike Turkey Vultures who use their very keen sense of smell, Black Vultures find their meals via sight. I have to think they were able to smell this decaying critter though. It took me a few days to get the smell out of my nose! (And they got quite a bit closer than I did)

Who would have though that a dead animal would get away...

...not for long!

Nope, not gonna share! These vultures are quite vicious towards one another when they are dining or even just waiting for a turn. There was quite a bit of squabbling going on as one vulture monopolized the meal for quite some time.

Juvenile vultures-in-training...

The most attentive student!

Snuggles with Mom...an almost cute vulture photo!

The Joys of Parenting

"Mom, mom, mama..."

juvenile Florida Scrub Jay

"MMMOOOOMMMMM...."

"I'm hungry!"

"I WANT MORE!!!"

~sibling rivalry~ "I had it first!"

feuding juvenile Scrub Jays

"NO, I had it first"

"Is it naptime yet???" asks mama.

adult Florida Scrub Jay

"Play with me, mom!"

adult and juvenile Black Vultures

"Time to eat!"

juvenile & adult Anhingas

"Time to eat again!"

juvenile & adult Common Gallinules

"I can do it all by myself!"

juvenile & adult Sandhill Cranes

"I need help!"

 adult Red-shouldered Hawk

"I don't want to eat snake again!"

juvenile Red-shouldered Hawk

~more sibling rivalry~ "You move, I was here first!"

juvenile Anhingas

While parenting can be demanding, one look into a sweet, innocent, little face and we are reminded how lucky we are to hold the title of parents!

MINWR 9/15/12

I had a hard time deciding where to go this morning...a nice sunrise at Jetty Park or Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge, but we decided on the refuge. As we approached our exit on the highway, some large storm clouds appeared along with some rain. I had a feeling it wasn't going to last, and thankfully it didn't.

Luckily for us, with the rain, comes rainbows. And we saw a bunch of rainbows this morning!

We headed out to the shore first, but things were pretty quiet there. I had hoped to see some Black-bellied Plovers, but once again, they were not there.

Ruddy Turnstone

But there were several Ruddy Turnstones foraging in the sand.

Sanderling

And this sweet little Sanderling preening in the sand.

Dragonhunter

This dragonfly was resting along the sea grape plants. After the beach, we decided to make a loop through Black Point Drive. It was pretty quiet there as well. We saw plenty of herons and egrets. We saw 2 Reddish Egrets which are always fun to watch.

Finally, from quite a distance, we saw some of the plovers we were looking for. In this area, we saw the largest number of birds. There were Black-bellied Plovers, Willets, a Caspian Tern, Black Skimmers, Forster's Terns, Laughing Gulls, some Blue-winged Teals, and probably a few others that we missed.

Turkey Vulture

On the way home, we drove along the edge of the causeway where there were numerous Turkey and Black Vultures scuffling over a small dead fish.

Turkey & Black Vulture

I loved the look on the Turkey Vulture's face when the Black Vulture took its food. It looked as if to say..."hey, I had that first!!!".

juvenile Black Vulture

Little did they know, this juvenile Black Vulture was sitting on a jackpot just up the shore.

Dowitcher

We also saw two Dowitchers, which I think were Long-billed....We made one more stop at another small park on the way home.

Northern Mockingbird

We saw some interesting interactions between this Mockingbird and a Brown Thrasher.

The two were attempting to occupy the same tree, but the Mockingbird was not pleased about that.

The moment the thrasher would come out of the brush, the mocker would attack him.

The Thrasher didn't give up though. It kept trying to claim an upper branch. This is about as far as it got.

Loggerhead Shrike 

This shrike was observing the action from the next tree over, wondering what all the fuss was about...

Hope you're having a great weekend:)

The Clean Up Crew

I know Vultures are not considered by most to be very attractive or desirable species to encounter, but, I'll admit, I find these scavengers to be quite interesting. I will say Vultures are definitely not a species I seek out to observe, but I find do quite regularly  see these birds in my everyday travels. Most of these photos were taken last week at Kelly Park in Merritt Island. There are two species of vultures that reside here in Florida, the Turkey Vulture and the Black Vulture.

Black Vulture

Black Vultures are, you guessed it, large, solid black birds with wrinkled, featherless heads.

Juvenile Black Vulture

Juvenile Black Vultures are a touch more pleasing to view as their heads sport a fuzzy, peach fuzz appearance.

Juvenile Black Vulture

 Turkey Vultures are easy to distinguish from Black Vultures as they have bright red, wrinkley heads. Black Vultures also have shorter wings and tails than Turkey Vultures.

Turkey Vulture

Turkey and Black Vultures can be frequently seen soaring the skies in their quest to find a meal. Both vultures feed primarily on the carcasses of dead animals and fish.

 It always amazes me how quickly a large group of them will arrive after the unfortunate demise of a poor critter. For Turkey Vultures this is thanks to their keen sense of smell. Black Vultures utilize vision to a greater extent than Turkey Vultures to locate food.  Black Vultures are the more social of the two species and tend to stick together in larger flocks. On this day there were a handful of Black Vultures and only one Turkey Vulture, but the Turkey Vulture definitely seemed to be dominating the small dead fish they were all gathered around.

Fresh fish is definitely not a requirement of these birds!