A Gardeners Forum Forums General Discussion Hobbies, Crafts and Creativity The Bird Lovers Forum buzzard type bird?

I saw this huge beautiful bird yesterday right out my front door. it was feeding on a dead coon my lovely dogs had killed just that night. it was as big as a buzzard but it's wings were brown with white...or maybe even brown with white and black(marked up like a hawk but bigger). I got a glimps of it's beak. it was yellow or orange. I've only seen the black buzzard around here and vultures. I tried googling but couldn't find anything. I tried to get a pic but it wouldn't come back. I sat on the porch and watched it's shadow circle the house. then it flew off. watched throughout the day and it never came back. anyone know what it might have been?

The most likely candidates are Black Vulture or Turkey Vulture..Eagles have also been known to scavenge.

I looked up black and turkey vultures. don't think it was either of those. looked up eagle. (I had no idea we had any kind of eagle in texas) anyway ran across some breeds of eagles and a 'mexican eagle' that is actually in the falcon family? anyway the bird I saw was pretty similar to it,and also similar to a few of the falcon varieties and others large birds that are in the falcon family. Pretty cool stuff! learn something new everyday. didn't know we had eagles or falcons around here! thanks thorn!

There are TWO species of Vultures (THREE if you count the threatened California Condor), in the U.S. and Canada. We have Black Vultures and Turkey Vultures. BOTH Vultures occur in Tennessee AND Texas. Turkeys are the MOST numerous. They are black birds with NEKKID red heads (which are not noticeable unless you are very close or are using high magnification). They glide when they fly, RARELY flapping their wings. In flight look for a DEFINITE "V" shape to the way they hold their wings. Also the tails on the Turkey Vulture are LONG and narrow.

Balck Vultures, on the other hand, have Nekkid BLACK heads. They give two or three flaps fairly often followed by long glides. In flight, their wings appear to be level across, with no "V". Their wings are more like, " -0- ". Also, their tails are short, stumpy, and spread like a Turkey or peacock. From a distance, the tail is ALMOST invisble. Black Vultures also have two white circles, one on each wing, on the UNDERSIDE of the Wing, at the tip of the wing. We call those circles, "Headlights"

Congratulations for passing American Vultures 101!

ok thorny, so what is most common in coastal georgia by the savannah river?

I'm familiar with the black buzzard and the vulture with the red head. but have never seen one that was colored up like a halk.
yes, thorn....enlighten us more on the eaters of the dead.

"Eaters of the Dead", a book by Michael Crichton who also wrote, "The Andromeda Strain", "Jurrasic Park", and "Sphere". This book deals with an early Arabic Historian who travels to the land of the Vikings to investigate stories of brutish cannabalistic beasts, who turn out to be the LAST remaining tribe of Neanderthals. A very entertaining book as I remember.

Here again, Jiffy you have BOTH Black and Turkey Vultures in your area of Georgia. The Turkey, as usual, will be the MOST common, but Black Vultures in my observations, like to hunt river, lake, and stream shores and the shoulders of roads, more often than do Turkey Vultures so that's a hard call. If they are flying look for the "V". If that is obvious then you probably have Turkey. If they are close to you on the ground, Look at the head. If it is red, it is a Turkey Vulture. If the head is Black, you have a black vulture.

i always call them turkey buzzards, but i'm sure they are the black vultures. i've seen the ones with read heads, but they aren't nearly as common here.

we just never know what we will learn from thorn.