Uhhh..., hello..., bird people..., (1 Viewer)

[fishrock]

I am not a bird person per se, although I did adopt a duck from someone who needed a home for their pet duck when they moved. He was a good duck. I served him a la 'range, and everybody loved him.

I'm kidding. He enjoyed my swimming pool for years, despite my added expense of dealing with his constant presence in my pool. He loved canned corn. Do you know what that does to pool filters? Or just what one duck can do? His name was Duck. He was effing cool. He would sit on my shoulder like a pirate's parrot, but he was a duck. I got pictures.

I also have a good relationship with a parrot type bird, big blue with yellow feathers, sometimes chatty, he and I have been friends for about 15 years. He lives at the pet shop where I buy crickets for my spider. He got kidnapped once, and was recovered about a year later by the police.

I am not a spider person either. I inherited a spider, she has been with me now for 14 years, and is 16 years old. Her name is Lucy. She is a B. Smithi.

I suddenly have a nesting pair of black vultures who moved into my backyard shed. I wasn't aware of them until one made it abundantly clear when I went into my shed that they expected to be accorded courtesies from me, which I am more than happy to accommodate. I now consider them my guests.

A friend loaned me a nature stalker cam to watch them. They are in the loft part of my shed so I can't see them but I hear them. First batch of pictures made it known that I was right.

They are a nesting pair, they have two eggs, and they are a lovely couple. They have tolerated me checking on them, trying to get cameras on them. Don't know when they started, but I am two weeks into their adventure.

They are Coragyps atratus. I have a ton of pictures from the stalker cam, but most aren't terribly interesting. Some are cool.

I just want to make sure that I do right by them and am looking in a reasonable place to do so.

This seemed a place that might be suitable.

 

[KC Foggin]

Hi Fishrock and a warm welcome to you from those of us on staff here at BirdForum :t:

Bear in mind that we are strictly about wild birds and nature and look forward to hearing about the wild birds you come across. Yeah, I guess that means the Vultures but bear in mind that nest shots aren't allowed on the forum due to the respect of not interfering with nature. If they're from a cam corder and show no disturbance that should be okay. Anyway, Enjoy

 

[fishrock]

Hey KC.

You guess that vultures are wild?

Yeah, I get it. I HAVE pictures. I didn't submit any. And won't. I mentioned them only because they show a nesting pair of vultures tending their eggs. And hopefully, their offspring. This is nature.

It's about wild birds in nature, I get it. But I think that birds get to decide what is nature, not us. The birds adapt to the world around them changing. We are the ones changing nature, not the birds. If birds decide to stick around, then our world is the new nature, and the birds living in the nature that we have created are living in nature.

For crying out loud, I saw something about birds as viewed out of a Manhatten apartment in this forum before I decided to register and join.

I get that black vultures aren't pretty and, as my sister put it when I sent her pictures of these lovely animals tending to their offspring together, "Too bad they aren't birds people like, like owls or eagles."

I came here to make sure that I did right by these wild birds that chose my home to nest and raise their offspring.

If this forum isn't up for it, then, never mind.

 

[etudiant]

Hi fishrock and welcome to BF!

Vultures are pretty self sufficient afaik, so apart from not disturbing them there is not much you can do for them. Just relax and enjoy your guests. Do note that they can live for a long time and that they reuse their nests.

Up here in the NYC area, any water feature is very popular with birds. They all come down to bathe in the streams in Central Park. I'd guess that would be even more true in Texas, so your pool may be attractive to them

 

[fishrock]

Thank you.

I have adopted this attitude from the start. They seem to know to know what they are doing. Everything I can find on the internet tells me they are doing it right.

I just want to be a good host to them, make sure they that are safe and don't go wanting, and hope they will continue to indulge me observing them via the nature stalking cam.

They had a pigeon in their nesting area the other day. Pigeon was being kind of an A-hole. Bird was sitting on her babies, clearly annoyed. She tolerated it for a bit, and then, I think the pigeon was lunch.

Nature stalking cam has its limits.

I don't know when this pair of birds nested, when they made eggs, so I have no idea how long before they hatch. I do know that this is a long thing for me. I am cool with it. I love it.

Watching these birds, having had Duck, this is just so cool.

 

[etudiant]

Thank you.

I have adopted this attitude from the start. They seem to know to know what they are doing. Everything I can find on the internet tells me they are doing it right.

I just want to be a good host to them, make sure they that are safe and don't go wanting, and hope they will continue to indulge me observing them via the nature stalking cam.

They had a pigeon in their nesting area the other day. Pigeon was being kind of an A-hole. Bird was sitting on her babies, clearly annoyed. She tolerated it for a bit, and then, I think the pigeon was lunch.

Nature stalking cam has its limits.

I don't know when this pair of birds nested, when they made eggs, so I have no idea how long before they hatch. I do know that this is a long thing for me. I am cool with it. I love it.

Watching these birds, having had Duck, this is just so cool.

You should try to keep a log if you can. It could be pretty useful.
I don't think vulture nesting behavior has a lot of documentation. For instance, presumably they regurgitate food for the young, because their feet are not equipped to carry prey to the nest.
They are surely interested in a water feature, maybe have your pool recirculating pump outlet work through a short hose that goes out of the pool into an open stream which then flows back into the pool. Only quibble is that you'd want to chlorinate pretty carefully.
Here in NYC, we have some cams for our Red Tail Hawk nests, but no instance of a nesting Black Vulture. Do you plan to have a web link?
Please keep us posted on their progress.

 

[fishrock]

Vulture nesting does not have a lot of documentation, but there is a site that has a pretty impressive history, like 12 years, of returning nesting pairs. It seems that if the nesting site works for them, they keep coming back. Internet has helped me educate myself about these birds. Why I came here.

The pair, who are monogamous lifetime partners, do shift duty tending their offspring, which is really cool to me. They truly love and protect their eggs to the exclusion of everything.

I can't tell the female from the male, the pictures I get and the amount of time I am willing to devote to this lovely and interesting diversion stopping me from knowing who is who. And, I didn't get any really good pictures over the last few days. My fault. I don't have a precision method of observing them in place. I have a trail cam tied to a stick that I prop up against a wall in my shed that sees up into the loft in my shed where they have nested.

It's fine, because they are really king of boring, and looking through 4000 pictures every couple of days is kind of tedious. A-hole pigeon visits aside, all the pictures are the same..., just a lovely caring gentle, while admittedly unattractive but utterly fierce pair of birds tending to their eggs.

Like all animals, they do the circadian rhythm thing. They change shifts at 1-2 pm every day, and I visit them at 6 pm, just to say hello, make them know me, and check the the camera. I think being consistent helps them tolerate me.

Oh, and Duck was a long time ago. I have moved since then, and don't have a pool. I do have a huge backyard, and the shed is at the very back part of my huge back yard, and in an area I have specifically utterly ignored, other than twisting some saplings to make braided trees, and letting nature take it back.

 

[Kits]

Welcome to BirdForum! Your adventure with the vultures sounds interesting.

 

[fishrock]

Thank you.

But please, keep the kittens in your avatar away from my guest birds. I am pretty sure the vultures will eat them.

 

[KC Foggin]

They had a pigeon in their nesting area the other day. Pigeon was being kind of an A-hole. Bird was sitting on her babies, clearly annoyed. She tolerated it for a bit, and then, I think the pigeon was lunch. Nature stalking cam has its limits.

Nature can seem raw at times but it is nature nonetheless and you sound as though you understand that thoroughly.

 

[fishrock]

Hi. Thanks.

They seem to have things well in hand. They are my guests, and I appreciate their tolerance of my presence and the trail cam I have watching them. But I am compelled to watch over them.

I hate nature. Making me care about stupid squatter birds making babies. In my yard.

And I had a duck, and I miss that damn duck.

And I have already bought cigars for when these birds hatch their little baby vultures.

I am not angry.

.....Birds....,

 

[Richard Prior]

Hi. Thanks.



And I have already bought cigars for when these birds hatch their little baby vultures.

I'm pretty sure they won't want to feed cigars to their young

 

[fishrock]

OMG, these birds are so boring. All they do is guard and tend their nest. Oh, sure, they roll the eggs around a lot, but never like they are trying to score a goal, like if they were playing soccer.

They seem to be doing well.

 

[etudiant]

OMG, these birds are so boring. All they do is guard and tend their nest. Oh, sure, they roll the eggs around a lot, but never like they are trying to score a goal, like if they were playing soccer.

They seem to be doing well.

Hi fishrock,
Your vultures are smarter than our CPW pair of Red Tail Hawks here in NYC.
That pair set up a very rudimentary nest on a ledge of the San Remo building and watched their egg roll off the edge.

I'm really looking forward to your reports as this nest progresses.
Can you tell how many eggs there are? Do both parents incubate?

 

[fishrock]

The birds have two eggs. The internet tells me that both parents incubate, and they take 24 hour shifts. I find that to be utterly charming. Everything I have seen supports this. They are doing this.

But I cannot tell Mom or Dad apart yet.

When they are together, they talk together, they nuzzle together, they stare at the eggs together..., But they are never together long. They trade shifts. One tend the babies, the other goes looking for food.

 

[fishrock]

and watched their egg roll off the edge.

Oh nooo....

I have this fear for my baby vulture eggs. They are in the loft in my shed right now. When they hatch and start toddling about, if they fall, and parent bird on duty doesn't stop them, they will die, and my heart will break. I will not forgive the bird on duty

I will have fried vulture nuggets for dinner.

 

[etudiant]

and watched their egg roll off the edge.

Oh nooo....

I have this fear for my baby vulture eggs. They are in the loft in my shed right now. When they hatch and start toddling about, if they fall, and parent bird on duty doesn't stop them, they will die, and my heart will break. I will not forgive the bird on duty

I will have fried vulture nuggets for dinner.

Seems you have experienced parents, so relax and enjoy.
Our NYC Red Tails were apparently pretty new to the whole thing, they flew around a lot bringing long branches, but their site could not hold those, so the actual nest was left more figurative than real. If they had added at least a couple of shorter sticks to keep the egg in place, they might have been ok. They seem though to have taken their loss in stride, the pair did even less nest building this year, although they are still using the same site. Mind that while matings have been repeatedly observed, no eggs were laid that anyone knows of. Lots to learn, even about hawk behavior.

PS What do you feed your Red Knee? Wiki says they live 30 years, is there a companion in her future?

 

[The-Wanderer]

This gets my vote for most amusing thread of the year!

 

[fishrock]

These birds are the most boring nesting pair in the world, but I think I can identify the male from the female now. They do this in 24 hour shifts, like clockwork. That is effing remarkable.

Mr. V has a different neck, and Ms. V is quite more pleasant than her mate. My assignment of gender might be arbitrary, but I think it's right. I am just assuming that the bird that appears to be an ass is probably the male.

Call me sexist, I don't care.

A friend of mine who knows about my guests snapped some pictures of two vultures snacking on roadkill a few mile away from me.

I can't help but think that one of them might be one of mine.

 

[fishrock]

etudiant

PS What do you feed your Red Knee? Wiki says they live 30 years, is there a companion in her future?

Lucy eats crickets. And only the finest crickets money can buy. Feeding her costs me almost a few whole dollars a year.

Wiki is optimistic, 20-25 years is what I expect. She is, as I understand, at 16, too old to breed now. Those that breed, that would consider my spider as breeding stock, think she is too old.

And tarantulas are, with very few exceptions, totally solitary creatures.

Mating a pair in captivity is a process, and assuming both survive, the separation only allows the male to maybe get some love with another girl spider before he dies. Because if he survives the loving, and escapes before his paramour kills him, he dies on his next molt.

It really sucks to be a male tarantula.