Turkey vultures house-hunting in Sask
August 14th, 2007 by Administrator
Turkey vultures house-hunting in Sask.
A farmer ran in terror from an abandoned farmhouse on his land earlier this summer.
New residents had taken over the house — giant turkey vultures. The birds have a six-foot wingspan, look like chubby hunchbacks and eat the dead.
“The vulture jumped out from the top of the stairs,” said Dr. Stuart Houston, a Saskatchewan bird expert. “(The farmer) got the living daylights scared out of him.”
Houston has chased birds for 65 years and turkey vultures are the latest in his ornithological adventure. The population is on the rise in recent years.
“They are hellishly big birds, and ugly as sin up close, but they are beautiful in flight,” said Houston. “They fly with grace and soar like gliders on the thermals.”
The protected birds have been taking up residence in old, abandoned farmhouses and using them to nest instead of traditional nesting locations like caves.
Observers noticed the farmhouse phenomenon in 2002. Three pairs of turkey vultures set up shop in farmhouses in the Saskatoon area. Houston said it was a rare change in the usual habit of the animal. Caves are exceedingly hard to find, so the birds are turning closets and attics into makeshift abodes.
“It was just what the vulture ordered,” said Houston.
A house also offers better protection for eggs. The birds don’t make nests with twigs and brush or soft materials. In a house they lay eggs on hardwood, cardboard or concrete, Houston said.
Houston and his team are tagging the vultures to study migration habits and learn more about the life cycle.
Last week, the team ventured into houses that smelled of rotting carrion — a staple of the vulture diet. Coveralls and a gas mask were needed to make it through the lair with sinuses relatively untraumatized.
The scientists know the vultures soar during the day, riding the hot air stream rising from the earth. The osprey can fly across the United States in less than two days, but the vulture is slower, travelling approximately 300 miles per day.
“They’ve got better union hours. They start at 10 in the morning and stop at five in the afternoon,” said Houston.
The team has tagged 40 vultures this summer, and a total of 180 over the past four years. Birds with Houston’s tags have been spotted in Venezuela, North Dakota, Florida and Montana.
Lorne Scott, a Regina-area farmer and conservationist, invited Houston to tag the vultures on his farmland last weekend.
“He’s the foremost ornithologist in Saskatchewan,” said Scott.
People should not shoot the birds when driving past them on the road. The vultures save authorities money by cleaning carcasses off the side of the road, according to Houston.
Banding efforts have proven useful in the past. His work helped track pesticide poisoning of Swainson hawks in the 1990s.
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.