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 We
saw the most unusual sight one day - off in the distance
we could see 50-100 buzzards in two long, spiraling columns
- one moving up and the other going down from the ground
to very, very high up in the sky. It looked like a whirlwind
or tornado of buzzards! (Click on the photo to see a larger
version - still hard to see, but larger.)
I
finally found someone who could tell me more about this! In
the first place they are NOT Buzzards, they are Turkey
Vultures. (In my stories I'm going to keep calling them
buzzards because that's what everyone else on the marsh calls
them and, well, it's shorter to say.)
Anyway,
I was told that if it were in the early morning in the Fall
they were probably catching thermals to gain altitude to migrate
to South America. Since it was late afternoon in the Winter
they were most likely just having a bit of fun on some interesting
air currents.
According
to my informant, the Turkey Vulture is a very playful and likes
to play games. They will soar on air currents and play tag
and follow the leader.
They
also become attached to individuals and will seek them out,
follow them, and visit them regularly. This is very reassuring,
as one particular bird used to follow me and Judy every time
we went out. We just thought that he must figure two middle
aged women heading into the marsh in a small boat would end
up being dinner for someone and he wanted to be there! Nice
to know he was just being sociable.
Another
cool thing about them - even though they eat all kinds of nasty,
diseased or rotting things that would kill anything else, they
don't get sick from it and their droppings are disease-free
too!
Check out
the Turkey
Vulture Society website for more really interesting information
on Turkey Vultures and their habits.
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