Ugly bird, terrible diet, great flier
One of the ugliest birds frequenting our area also has the least pleasant eating habits. Give these repulsive creatures a little rising air under their wings, and they lose their unappealing nature. With little movement of their huge black wings, they are transformed into skilled navigators of the skies.
The turkey vulture, commonly known as a buzzard, are nature’s garbage collectors. When an animal dies, the buzzards consume the flesh, leaving only bones to bleach in the sun. The body of this rather large bird is mostly covered with black feathers. The underside of the trailing edge of the wings are more gray, or at least a lighter shade of black. The leading edge of the underside of the wing is dark black, covering the muscle and bone.
But the most outstanding feature of this interesting creature, is an ugly head totally devoid of feathers, and a nasty-looking hooked beak. This is truly a head only a mother could love. The head is covered by loose red skin, and definitely not attractive. In order to be able to pull flesh and tissue off the interior of a dead carcass this bald head must be shoved inside. If there were feathers on the head, they would be soiled by the carrion. The loose skin keeps it from getting caught in tight places. The powerful hooked beak tears and rips as the birds work to clean the carcass.
When the long black wings unfold, they support all the above ugliness in the most graceful manner. If there is any air moving at all, the buzzard will swoop and sail, following any puff of air to help them rise. Though the buzzard will flap their wings on occasion, they generally float along on constantly extended wings. The feathers on the end of the wings, extending out similar to fingers, provide fine adjustments to the flight characteristics. When the breeze changes, in order to keep the buzzards afloat, for they constantly fly downhill, the air moving under their wings must keep them flying.
Most buzzards abandon our hills and valley area in the winter, only returning in the spring. The timing of their departure to the south, is most often based upon the first fall rain or cold weather. As the migration time approaches, usually in late September or early October, the local buzzards gather in tall trees. It is not unusual to see twenty, thirty, or more birds roosting in large eucalyptus or sycamore trees.
Many years ago, on a rather chilly fall morning, we discovered there must have been no vacancies for overnight roosting in the river bottom sycamores. The fence line along the top of the ridge to the west of our house was full of roosting buzzards, one to a post. Every post, for at least fifty yards, was occupied by one buzzard. That was unusual, but what really made it special was the big bird’s wings. Exactly as in my picture, each one stretched out their wings, nearly touching the tip of the bird’s wing roosting on the next post. The black feathers on the top of the wing absorb the sun’s energy, apparently helping them prepare for another day of soaring.
When the first storm passes through, or after a particularly cool night, we discover the flock of buzzards gathered in the treetops have left the area in favor of warmer climates. Not all will go south for the winter, for we still see one or two around the hills to clean up the carrion.
The return of the buzzards the following spring, may be as uneventful as discovering there are big black carrion-eaters once again gliding along our foothills. But sometimes they arrive in a massive migration north.
One spring day I was riding along a ridge at the eastern edge of the valley. There was a light breeze keeping the bright spring day pleasant. My attention was drawn to a small string of buzzards floating north, not a wing flapping. I followed the stream of birds to find they were peeling off the top of a circling column of even more birds.
That circle was comprised of a large number of birds being carried upward by a rising column of air. When the air bubble failed to carry them higher, they peeled off and coasted north to the next rising air bubble to start a new rising column.
As I looked to the west, I discovered there were multiple columns, each connected by floating streams of gliding birds. I tried to estimate the number of birds in my view. I spotted six rising columns, each connected by a floating string of birds. Limited by my eyes ability to find tiny black specks at ever-increasing distance, I had to assume there were even more spiraling columns both to the north and south. My rough count revealed at least five hundred birds, and could easily have exceeded several thousand.
Buzzards may be unsightly birds with disgusting eating habits, but when it comes to flying skills, they are amazing. With the ability to adjust their wing-tip feathers, refining their airfoils, they follow every updraft and rising gust of air. They have the ability to travel long distances without every flapping a wing.
Brent Gill lives in Springville. His “Daunt to Dillonwood” column appears regularly in The Porterville Recorder through the generosity of Weisenberger’s Hardware on West Olive in Porterville. If you enjoyed this column, follow his blog at http://brentgwriter.blogspot.com.