Thanksgiving Turkey Vulture
About a week before Thanksgiving, I got a call from a man who needed help at a nearby park. He had seen a turkey vulture hanging around a dumpster and noticed that the bird could not get airborne. It would hop away when approached, but could not fly. He had seen the bird in the same area several times over the course of four days. An animal warden had responded to a call about this bird and had spent an hour in the park without finding it.
Since it was late in the day when I was contacted, I told the caller that I would go to the park at eight o'clock the next day armed with a long-handled fishing net and a large carrier for transport. The next morning was cold and drizzly, and the vulture was not to be found. I saw some joggers and asked them if they saw anything. I told the park office that I would be home all day and that they could call me if anything turned up. The original caller showed up to help and said he would look further. I went home to continue with holiday preparations, and very truthfully, I thought this would be the end of the story.
About an hour later, I got a call from the park office. A jogger had spotted the bird. Would I please retrieve it? I dropped the vacuum cleaner and headed right over. After scrambling around in the woods and then out onto a pile of rocks at the edge of the river, we netted the vulture. I took it directly to my vet's office. The bird had broken flight feathers on one wing and no other injuries. The doctor pulled out the broken feathers and sent us on our way.
After researching proper diet requirements, I realized that I could really use a big supply of whole mice. There are other alternatives, but whole rodents would make life easier. I called several rehabbers to find a good source. In the meantime, the vulture enjoyed a can of dog food.
The next day Erika was on a variety of wildlife missions all over the countryside, and happened to meet with someone who needed to dispose of a huge frozen block of mice. Erika called me immediately to give me the good news.
That night Erika and I met in a parking lot halfway between Alexandria and Great Falls and made the transfer. The busy shoppers were oblivious to the fact that a late night mouse transfer was taking place.
When I got home, I told my husband to stay in the house while I broke this mass of mice into small lots for the freezer in the garage. To some people this might be a revolting task, but to me it was a fabulous windfall, for which I was truly grateful. The freezer was soon filled with quart-sized baggies of mice and declared off-limits for the next few months. I started scouring the supermarket meat departments for cheap organ meats to add to the vulture's daily fare, and the freezer filled to capacity. From Thanksgiving through New Year's I had a constant flow of visitors who were horrified when they inadvertently opened that freezer door.
The vulture was very hungry initially and managed to eat as many as a dozen mice at one feeding. The bird's weight was 1500 grams on arrival, low for an adult bird of its size. Two months later, averaging six mice a day, it weighed 2100 grams, had grown back its flight feathers, and had only regurgitated at me once, when being caught for a weigh-in.
Because my biggest cage is 8 by 8 by 16 feet long, I transported the vulture to the Wildlife Center of Virginia at Weyer's Cave for flight conditioning in a 100-foot-long aviary. It will be released when it is flying well.
Most people who heard about the turkey vulture had the initial reaction of "ugh!". However, upon seeing this bird "up close and in person" most would walk away with an appreciation for its grand size and great looks. Viewing was allowed from a fairly long distance, so the bird was not unduly stressed by human contact. My son-in-law, visiting from England, built a new stone stairway down into the woods to the cage to make my twice-daily visits with food and water easier. I think this bird did a lot for vulture public relations. It was a great experience, and I'd take in another such bird anytime.