Okay this is odd. The Vultures are back.

[walnutman]

what state are you in?

The robins never left this year. I saw them at Christmas, New Years, and even today. First time I can remember that.

Robins don't migrate. They hang out in the thicket over winter. They show themselves in winter when you get a warm stretch and the ground is soft enough for them to poke around for worms.

 

[walnutman]

I love the term "buzzard" but as a bird enthusiast if you look in the bird books vultures are vultures.... buzzards are a totally different bird.
Buzzards are raptors.... yes hawks. They hunt and kill their food. Vultures are scavengers. Basically nature's cleanup crew.
But here in Texas, vultures are buzzards LOL.
BTW, years ago there was a vulture nest in my fathers out building up in the loft. It was able to get in through a hole in the roof. Got pictures of the nasty, pooped-on nesting area. Yes area... they don't build nests. They just lay the eggs on the loft floor. I got pictures of the eggs and then the chicks. These are American vultures. Their heads are black when they mature.

 

[lman]

Robins don't migrate. They hang out in the thicket over winter.

Yep. The robins around here hang out in my woods back of the house all winter.

 

[the old grind]

We've had several days in a row with temps barely reaching 20F north of the 43rd parallel at mid-day. It's nothing new. Not much here for insect eaters this time of year, and who tags/monitors seasonal robin migrations? I suggest that perhaps ours are hanging out in the Indiana woods and Indiana's may have flown further south. I also suspect that's why I see bluebirds in Winter along with juncos that are scarce in the warm season. YMMV but we all live in different local climates and one observation doesn't always fit all. What happens in Southern states doesn't represent a National trend to me.

 

[kenmbz]

Our vultures are still around, saw one yesterday overhead.
Lots of birds yesterday as above freezing and sunny.
With todays snow, not seeing much movement out there.

 

[MossRoad]

Robins don't migrate. They hang out in the thicket over winter. They show themselves in winter when you get a warm stretch and the ground is soft enough for them to poke around for worms.

Yes, but they showed themselves all year. Never hunkered down like normal.

 

[the old grind]

It's up to 10F here right now (9:30 AM) and our ground is frozen at least 6" deep under the snow. I'll be watching for robins to poke around in it for worms. They're sneaky and routinely do it without disturbing the snow just like everywhere else in the country.

 

[ning]

Someone is about to tell us more than they know about this. Buzzards can't smell,no bird can. On the other hand with eyesight like eagles,they see flies on animals from quite high then can tell the difference in flies as they circle lower above animals. If animal has injury that is starting to rot and attract green flies,buzzards often begin eating although animal is alive.

I'm hoping that this post is an example of Cunningham's Law, because the first sentence was immediately proven correct since the subsequent sentence was wrong.

While they lack the vomeronasal organ that most mammals, amphibians, and reptiles use to detect odor particles, many species have olfactory bulbs, a structure in the forebrain that receives odor signals from the nasal cavity.

Turkey Vultures Have a Keen Sense of Smell and Now We Know Why

Inside the brains of this olfactory king of the roost is a powerful cellular mechanism for detecting carrion from hundreds of feet away

www.smithsonianmag.com

Birds Can Smell, and One Scientist is Leading the Charge to Prove It

For more than a century nearly everyone believed birds sense of smell was poorly developed or nonexistent. They were wrong.

www.audubon.org

 

[fishdrivel]

Someone is about to tell us more than they know about this. Buzzards can't smell,no bird can. On the other hand with eyesight like eagles,they see flies on animals from quite high then can tell the difference in flies as they circle lower above animals. If animal has injury that is starting to rot and attract green flies,buzzards often begin eating although animal is alive.

What would the audubon society know about birds?

Turkey vultures have an extraordinary sense of smell. They have been known to be able to smell carrion from over a mile away which is very unique in the bird world. The turkey vulture has the largest olfactory (smelling) system of all birds.

Facts about Turkey Vultures

Background information on why we have an annual Kern Valley Autumn Nature & Vulture Festival

www.kern.audubon.org

 

[fishdrivel]

Someone is about to tell us more than they know about this. Buzzards can't smell,no bird can. On the other hand with eyesight like eagles,they see flies on animals from quite high then can tell the difference in flies as they circle lower above animals. If animal has injury that is starting to rot and attract green flies,buzzards often begin eating although animal is alive.

• Black Vultures have a much shorter tail than Turkey Vultures , so short that their feet are sometimes visible beyond their tail’s end. Interestingly, Black Vultures, like most other birds, lack a sense of smell. However, sense of smell is highly developed in Turkey Vultures and is their primary method of locating the rotting carcasses they eat.