Buzzards and Vultures

[Caustic Burno]

Angie the old turkey buzzard is harmless;
The Black Vulture that has migrated up from Mexico are ruthless, the will kill newborns or cause you to have to kill cows in labor. They are a predator and hunt in flock's, the difference is the Vulture kinda flies like a bat with three or four quick wing flaps and sailing a short distance, they have black heads and white wing stripes.
I have heard tell they will disintegrate and disappear if hit by a 223.

 

[dun]

Had not really noticed until reading this, but there are more around here than normal to.

We've only had a coule of generic turkey vultures haning around. Tonight on the news they had a stroy about thousands of them roosting at Table Rock dam and the damage their droppings are doing.

I saw that too, they're trying to scare the things off and might put spikes on the dam so they can't roost??? I'll be taking CB's advise if they bother me or my cattle.

The ones that are at Table Rock are just generic turkey vultures. So ther then their crap eating paint and messing stuff up they won;t hurt the calves or cows.

 

[J&D Cattle]

I''ve never saw them harm a cow/calf but I have saw them aggravate each other. The cows and calves were by some old carcasses and didn't like the vultures being that close to them at all. They also $hit on everything. We pay out a lot of auto claims each year too.

 

[Nite Hawk]

Know someone years ago who used to make meat balls with rat poison in them for the magpies, and put it on roofs. Said it worked real well. The downside is like it was mentioned earlier might poison a pet or something.
Have caught the odd nasty bird that was killing things by using a decent sized leg hold trap nailed to a roof or post with some bait under / near the pan. Now some people are going to scream cause it was a leg hold, but it worked, and the birds weren't too nice on how they dispatched their victims either. Problem is you can get the wrong bird in your trap, so "lead" is probably a better option.
Of course our laws are different, and we have the livestock act and you can protect our livestock against predators, or at least most predators.
I remember seeing huge wire mesh bird traps when I was young in the orchards with a Vee top and wire sides and wire door. worked pretty well. Most of the birds that got in never figured out how to fly straight up to get out, and once a few were in there it attracted others.
Only a few ideas..
Nite Hawk

 

[kerley]

The Mexican Vultures are very bold. I hardly ever see a Turkey Vulture. The Mexican have taken over. We have a Great Pyrenees dog who does a good job keeping them away from the cattle.

It is the same at my place. Have not seen a Turkey Vulcure in a long time but those black devils are everywhere.

 

[inyati13]

Today, there must have been a vulture migration or they are beginning to congregate for winter. There are three big walnut trees on the ridge line near my farm and they were black with vultures about 10:30 am. I got my binoculars and from what I could tell, they were mostly turkey vultures with the red head.

 

[Taurus]

Today, there must have been a vulture migration or they are beginning to congregate for winter. There are three big walnut trees on the ridge line near my farm and they were black with vultures about 10:30 am. I got my binoculars and from what I could tell, they were mostly turkey vultures with the red head.

Did you have any dead animals nearby?

 

[inyati13]

I don't think it was something dead. They were roosting in the trees. Nothing but the odd one flying. If it was something dead, there would have been a few circling over the dead item. I have seen this before. I think they get together during winter. But this was by far the most I had ever seen. Had to be a couple hundred or more.