buzzards - Wild Texas Forums: Parks, Travel & Recreation

rock-hopper · 11-23-2007, 12:43 PM

I live in east Texas around the Lufkin/Nacogdoches area. A couple of years ago I was driving home down some back roads and saw a bunch of buzzards (maybe vultures, I don't know what if any the difference is) circling. I didn't think much of it at first, until the flock (swarm?? whatever) got so thick I had to get out of the car to watch them. There were trees lining one side of the road and a pasture on the other with a lot of trees around it, so I didn't have a clear view of the entire "cloud" of birds, but just in the area I could see there were easily a hundred and fifty birds, with no telling how many more out of my line of sight.

The longer I watched, the spookier it got so I ran home to get a camera, but by the time I got back their numbers had diminished greatly, so not really worth the shot at this point. I have never seen more than ten to twenty buzzards anywhere together at one time, and usually less than five. Is there any special reason this many may have come together at one time? Especially since I didn't think there were that many around here in the first place.

Turn Key · 11-23-2007, 04:07 PM

Don't believe I've seen that large a flock of vultures. Guess it could happen but the norm that I see is more like 20-30 birds.

BTW: What you probably saw were turkey vultures.

Turkey Vulture

Very common in most of Texas. We also have black vultures but I don't see as many of them. Also, "vulture" is the correct term. According to one of my bird books, the word "buzzard" came from Europe where it applied to the buteo hawk there. People new to this country noted that the two birds looked similar and applied the name "buzzard". It just stuck and can be used interchangably.

Hope this helps and happy camping!

campermom · 11-23-2007, 10:28 PM

We've seen large flocks of Black/American Vultures at Garner SP. These were roosting in the cypress across from the rock beach at old Garner. There was another large group in the cypress near the dam in new Garner. They spent some time in the trees near the site we had. They made the old folks across from us pretty nervous.

The black vultures have a black head. When they fly, there is a patch of white on the underside of their wingtips that covers half the wing. We most often see Black vultures here in San Antonio and the Hill Country. I don't know which would be more common in east Texas. When black or turkey vultures fly, they can glide more easily/longer than most larger birds and their wings are very horizontal. Hawks have to flap more and when they glide/soar, their body makes more of a "v" shape.

"Is there any special reason this many may have come together at one time?"

Maybe they are looking for love.

rock-hopper · 11-24-2007, 01:23 PM

Yes, I do believe they were turkey vultures. Seeing so many circling initially I thought there may be a large carcass, like a cow or something, in the pasture, but like I said in my original post I didn't know there could even be that many in the region. This may sound stupid, but I didn't know if there would be reason for them to migrate or anything like that, or if there would be another reason (like campermom suggested) for mass congregation.

I have to admit, I was a little too creeped out to go stumbling into the pasture to see if that's where they were going.

Shannon · 11-24-2007, 02:12 PM

My guess is they were congregating to enjoy the thermals and/or other wind currents that were no doubt starting to peak as our cold front started to move in/pass through?

I've seen large kettles of hawks and vultures, sometimes even mixed flocks, soaring in wind currents. Heck, we've had to dodge vultures when flying at 3,000 feet in a Cessna, before, so they can and do like to enjoy the airspace... sometimes in good numbers, though what you saw was definitely on the rare side -- especially if it was entirely or predominantly vultures, not hawks.

Awesome! Thanks for sharing the experience!

toejam · 11-26-2007, 08:23 AM

I've seen more than 100 of them flying to a roosting spot in the back of Lake Mineral Wells SP at sunset. Large numbers of them will roost together. It's probably more likely at certain times of the year.

Rufus · 01-07-2008, 11:37 AM

My son and daughter-in-law live in Terrell. Their community has lots of very old, large trees. They have observed a growing family of vulchers in a tree next door. The house is vacant and the lot quiet which I'd imagine contributes to the vulchers staying there. Do you know if any county or state agency would be interested in observing them. We all would like the vulchers to move away ... it's kinda creepy seeing them staring down at you and your small children from their high perch. If you have any suggestions of shooing them away, we would like to hear them. thanks.