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Re: Black Vultures



Anne Olsen, and carolinabirds:

Several years ago I had a similar incident occur on my farm in Alleghany
County, N.C., but was able to run off the two black vultures involved. In
that case I did observe the vultures attempting to seize the living lambs
and repeatedly being beaten off by an extremely protective ewe. I have
suspected other incidents but never witnessed it again.

In a number of old books on bird behaviour, including Bent, black vultures
are described as opportunistically killing newborn animals, including pigs,
lambs, and calves. It seems to be fairly rare behaviour, probably learned.

For years in this area there has been "feed-store-talk" about black vultures
from the large roost on the arsenal grounds at Radford Virginia killing or
maiming newborn calves. For once, this sort of thing probably has a basis in
fact.

James Coman
Stoney Knob Farm
Piney Creek  



on 3/28/02 14:05, aolsen at aolsen@wingate.edu wrote:

> As some of you know, Blayne and I raise sheep.  We are in the middle of
> lambing.  When I came home from work this afternoon I saw a ewe with one
> lamb on its feet. She was  licking at another lamb on the ground and
> there was a large circle of black vultures around the ewe and her
> lambs.  I hurried out to the pasture and chased the black vultures
> away.  There were at least 12 of them.  The lamb on the ground was dead.
> It was clear that the vultures had just begun to eat it.  I put the ewe
> & live lamb in the barn.  Five minutes later I went out to clear away
> the carcass of the dead lamb.  There were no vultures in sight any more.
> 
> Early Monday morning I found the carcasses of two lambs with some black
> feathers nearby.
> 
> My question is:  Did the black vultures kill the lambs that they ate?
> Or did they simply take advantage of a newly dead animal?
> 
> Thanks for your help.
> 
> Anne Olsen
> Monroe, NC
> 
> --
> Anne Olsen
> Wingate University
> Wingate, NC 28174
> aolsen@wingate.edu
> 
> 
> 
> ---
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