09/08/2024
International Vulture Awareness Day! I have come to a real appreciation of our new world vultures. Condors have huge personality. Young Black Vultures barf as a defense, and it didn't smell so hot on the way in. And, I've seen some amazing aggressive behavior within species particularly during limited food competitions. In Big Bend NP a mixed group of about 10 vultures kept getting flushed off of a roadkilled jackrabbit and as they landed again went into occasionally epic pecking order dominance fights. The flattened bird was landed on hard and when free took flight.