Attention bird people:Turkey Vulture question

Factual Questions
1

Trying to find out if my own perceptions are faulty or if I am remembering things correctly.

As a child I never thought there could possibly any vultures in New Jersey. I knew from cartoons that vultures lived in the desert. Of course I was wrong and the Turkey Vulture is native to New Jersey as it is to most of the US. However I never saw one (I probably saw some flying high and mistook them for a different bird but never up close). The first time I ever saw one was probably in the 90s.

Now I see them all the time. I see them at deer carcasses. I see them sunning themselves on powerlines. I see them circling in the air. My dog has chased them in the yard (I would hate to see what happens if that goofball catches one, I don’t think they want to play).

So my question is simply has there been a sharp increase in the Turkey Vulture population? I could see how the lack of predators=increase in deer population=increase in roadkill=more food for the vultures. But I’m not sure if its just my perception or of there really are more. Thanks in advance for your answers.

2

I don’t know about an increase, but there have been turkey vultures in the northeast all my life, or at least I was told there were in the younger portion of my life. If there is an increase it might be due to the loss of other scavengers. They are huge birds, I saw one swoop down right in front of me while fishing on the Housatonic. Must have been at least a 6 ft. wing span.

A cautionary tale here about the flying ghouls.

3

Both Turkey Vultures and Black Vultures have been increasing in numbers in recent years. They have also undergone a northward range expansion. There have been a variety of factors involved, including elimination of DDT, increasing deer populations and roadkill availability, and more landfills, but the prevailing influence is probably climate change. When I first started birding fifty years ago Turkey Vultures were virtually unheard of in winter in the New York area, while now they are regularly recorded on Christmas counts.

4

Thank you. That certainly confirms what I have personally seen as a 46 year old who has lived off and on in New Jersey my whole life.

5

I’m in Houston and recall getting very excited whenever I spotted a rare pelican on visits to Galveston. Now I see them commonly and troops (scoops?) of them that sometimes contain up to 20 or more birds.

I just love those birds. I told my kids they were Pterodactyls.

6

Brown Pelicans were virtually eliminated in the US as a breeding bird due to egg-shell thinning caused by DDT. Since it was banned, populations have largely recovered.