Had to take a newborn calve to the vet with a confirmation that a vulture had eaten a 4 inch hole in its rear. Vet thinks the calf will survive but does this mean open season on these vermin. Have seen some cara cara around as well.
Post Reply
1 of 1
Vultures eating calves
2,465 Views |
34 Replies |
Last: 3 days ago by SteveBott
I'd guess it was the cara cara
Damn...thats a kind of hungry I didn't think I had an colloquialism for.
Anyhoooo...it would be pretty atypical of a CaraCara to do this. Turkey Vultures (buzzards) can and will. They don't so much 'attack' them as simply eat vulnerable tissue.
They are federally protected birds. Do with that info as you wish. I won't tell you what you should do, but I will say that you shouldn't tell us about it.
Anyhoooo...it would be pretty atypical of a CaraCara to do this. Turkey Vultures (buzzards) can and will. They don't so much 'attack' them as simply eat vulnerable tissue.
They are federally protected birds. Do with that info as you wish. I won't tell you what you should do, but I will say that you shouldn't tell us about it.
Turkey vultures rarely do that…there feet can't grasp and their beaks are relatively fragile. Black vultures, however are noted for that. Here in MO and Ark you can get permits to kill the Black vultures.
TAMU Wildlife and Fisheries Sciences
Boat racing is like a beautiful woman.......expensive, high maintenance, but well worth the fun!
Boat racing is like a beautiful woman.......expensive, high maintenance, but well worth the fun!
The black headed vultures and caracara around us will get after very young kid goats and lambs or a ewe or nanny that is trying to have a baby and is having difficulty. How old was calf?
Calve 7 days old. With the heat they seemed to not be moving much. I have met the game warden and liked him so will reach out. I have trapped vultures that have roosted under out house and transported them away. Not sure if their range of territory.
Yes, I have a neighbor who had this problem this spring.
Iirc the problem buzzards are a protected bird so the options are sss or get a permit / help with bird trapping and removal. I'll get details what he did and post later but he lost several expensive new born show calves.
Iirc the problem buzzards are a protected bird so the options are sss or get a permit / help with bird trapping and removal. I'll get details what he did and post later but he lost several expensive new born show calves.
do they eat baby fawns? Anyone every heard of that happening?
Talk to your game warden about this issue. My Dad used to have this happen a lot and he would visit with the GW.
Upon speaking with several ornithologists, my impression is that caracara are too small and too weak to kill a newborn calf.
Black vultures however are mean SOBs. I could see a wake of black vultures killing a newborn calf and the caracara then taking advantage of the fresh kill. According to Cornell University's https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Crested_Caracara/lifehistory#food ,
"Because Crested Caracaras cannot open large carcasses on their own they must wait for a vulture or larger animal to open it up."
Hence the black vultures would be killing the newborn calves but the caracara gets blamed. It's like in football a guy punches an opponent but the referee only sees and penalizes the guy who was punched retaliate. Black vultures will kill a weak or dying animal. Black vultures are also notorious for destroying plastic and rubber pieces on cars and damaging roofs. (Note that turkey vultures will only eat something that is already dead, and will rely on black vultures to kill a dying animal before beginning their meal.)
If the statement from Cornell's ornithology department is true then it would be unlikely that a caracara would have opened a wound on a healthy calf.
Black vultures however are mean SOBs. I could see a wake of black vultures killing a newborn calf and the caracara then taking advantage of the fresh kill. According to Cornell University's https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Crested_Caracara/lifehistory#food ,
"Because Crested Caracaras cannot open large carcasses on their own they must wait for a vulture or larger animal to open it up."
Hence the black vultures would be killing the newborn calves but the caracara gets blamed. It's like in football a guy punches an opponent but the referee only sees and penalizes the guy who was punched retaliate. Black vultures will kill a weak or dying animal. Black vultures are also notorious for destroying plastic and rubber pieces on cars and damaging roofs. (Note that turkey vultures will only eat something that is already dead, and will rely on black vultures to kill a dying animal before beginning their meal.)
If the statement from Cornell's ornithology department is true then it would be unlikely that a caracara would have opened a wound on a healthy calf.
TAMUallen said:
I'd guess it was the cara cara
Me as well, but the black vultures like that sight as well. Seen it happen quite a bit with weaker calves and lambs.
Since the calf was seven days old, I bet they started by going after that colostrum crap. Everything loves that stuff!
When I see roadkill I will see caca cara eating the kill while black vultures sitting off to the side. Assumed the caracara being the dominant species.
Gunny and others are correct. Its the black headed bastages that can and will do this. SSS
I guided a hunt years ago, with an actor that you have heard of....not an A-lister, but you've seen him.
The place we were going was also a dairy and a bunch of them where surrounding a mama cow that was working herself to death to keep them off a newborn calf.
He laid prone and shot one out of a tree that was above her, didn't want to shoot too close to the cows, but he made an example out of one of them. They scattered pretty quickly after that.
As always. SSS.
The place we were going was also a dairy and a bunch of them where surrounding a mama cow that was working herself to death to keep them off a newborn calf.
He laid prone and shot one out of a tree that was above her, didn't want to shoot too close to the cows, but he made an example out of one of them. They scattered pretty quickly after that.
As always. SSS.
This is factual information.
TAMU Wildlife and Fisheries Sciences
Boat racing is like a beautiful woman.......expensive, high maintenance, but well worth the fun!
Boat racing is like a beautiful woman.......expensive, high maintenance, but well worth the fun!
Shoot some pigs and let them have those!
I believe the red headed buzzards are Turkey Buzzards. They. Hunt by smell alone. Thus they are no threat to calves or cows that have recently calved. But the black headed buzzards hunt by sight and smell and are a threat to cows and calves during calving season. I am retired now but the dirty secret among ranchers was that we killed every black headed buzzards we found. The Turkey Buzzards would clean up the carcasses.
What about the feathers?
I had black headed buzzards kill 2 calves. I watched cow drop a calf 100 steps from the barn I was working in. I left her alone. She tried fighting them off but they killed the calf before I saw them attacking.
Also had plenty of caracara eagles, never once saw them interested in a calf.
Also had plenty of caracara eagles, never once saw them interested in a calf.
As I said in my original post above. Turkey Vultures (for clarification, the ones that have red heads and more slim wings and have red heads like turkeys, hence the name "Turkey Vulture") aren't really equipped to kill or catch and don't.
Black Vultures ( the ones with black heads and wider shorter wings) are equipped and will kill.
Caracaras won't. They and Turkeys Vultures wrongly get blamed all the time though.
Black Vultures ( the ones with black heads and wider shorter wings) are equipped and will kill.
Caracaras won't. They and Turkeys Vultures wrongly get blamed all the time though.
TAMU Wildlife and Fisheries Sciences
Boat racing is like a beautiful woman.......expensive, high maintenance, but well worth the fun!
Boat racing is like a beautiful woman.......expensive, high maintenance, but well worth the fun!
Gunny456 said:
As I said in my original post above. Turkey Vultures (for clarification, the ones that have red heads and more slim wings and have red heads like turkeys, hence the name "Turkey Vulture") aren't really equipped to kill or catch and don't.
Black Vultures ( the ones with black heads and wider shorter wings) are equipped and will kill.
Caracaras won't. They and Turkeys Vultures wrongly get blamed all the time though.
I agree with you that the black headed vultures are the worst and do the most damage, but Caracara's don't get a pass. They absolutely will kill especially lambs and kid goats.
To complicate things, immature turkey vultures have dark heads.
We had them on the ranch at Kimble county that we lived at. We had baby exotics year around…..aoudad, blackbuck, axis, etc. Never saw the Caracas bother any of them.
TAMU Wildlife and Fisheries Sciences
Boat racing is like a beautiful woman.......expensive, high maintenance, but well worth the fun!
Boat racing is like a beautiful woman.......expensive, high maintenance, but well worth the fun!
Yes sir. Juvenile Turkey Vultures heads are a grayish color. They are still easily distinguished from Blacks by their beaks, feet and plumage color…and their wing shape and flight characteristics.
TAMU Wildlife and Fisheries Sciences
Boat racing is like a beautiful woman.......expensive, high maintenance, but well worth the fun!
Boat racing is like a beautiful woman.......expensive, high maintenance, but well worth the fun!
Yep, my father has troubles with the black headed vultures all of the time in central TX. It's so bad that he basically tries to be present when new calves are born, because there are 20-30 of them siting and waiting for the calve to drop. Most of the time, the momma cow fends them off pretty well, but not always.
They are so thick around here, that anytime we kill a hog, they are nothing but bones in less than 24 hours. Even larger >200lb boars. There will be 100+ on a dead carcass within a couple of hours. Really wish these things would be managed on a large scale.
They are so thick around here, that anytime we kill a hog, they are nothing but bones in less than 24 hours. Even larger >200lb boars. There will be 100+ on a dead carcass within a couple of hours. Really wish these things would be managed on a large scale.
They are truly masters of the air in flying though. (Turkey vultures)
TAMU Wildlife and Fisheries Sciences
Boat racing is like a beautiful woman.......expensive, high maintenance, but well worth the fun!
Boat racing is like a beautiful woman.......expensive, high maintenance, but well worth the fun!
I'm just waiting for the " I watched a Turkey buzzard swoop down and pick up my Chihuahua out my yard" post.
They don't have grasping talons to perform such a task, but someone will have seen it for sure.
They don't have grasping talons to perform such a task, but someone will have seen it for sure.
TAMU Wildlife and Fisheries Sciences
Boat racing is like a beautiful woman.......expensive, high maintenance, but well worth the fun!
Boat racing is like a beautiful woman.......expensive, high maintenance, but well worth the fun!
Here is what they are doing about it up here in the Ozarks.
https://agriculture.mo.gov/blackvultures.php
https://agriculture.mo.gov/blackvultures.php
TAMU Wildlife and Fisheries Sciences
Boat racing is like a beautiful woman.......expensive, high maintenance, but well worth the fun!
Boat racing is like a beautiful woman.......expensive, high maintenance, but well worth the fun!
Gunny456 said:
I'm just waiting for the " I watched a Turkey buzzard swoop down and pick up my Chihuahua out my yard" post.
They don't have grasping talons to perform such a task, but someone will have seen it for sure.
I remember a newspaper cartoon on the door of Dr. Ray C. Telfair's office (RIP) in Nagle Hall that had an eagle gritting its teeth (ha!) and flapping feverishly trying to fly off with a grown ewe. Another eagle was talking to the other saying " he read where a woman said an eagle can lift up to 40 lbs, so he's trying it".
Sounds about right!
TAMU Wildlife and Fisheries Sciences
Boat racing is like a beautiful woman.......expensive, high maintenance, but well worth the fun!
Boat racing is like a beautiful woman.......expensive, high maintenance, but well worth the fun!
Gunny456 said:
Here is what they are doing about it up here in the Ozarks.
https://agriculture.mo.gov/blackvultures.php
I do not have a problem with thinning this particular herd. They have no natural predators and every cell tower in south Texas is covered with them.
Interesting about the guard dog. Difficulty reinforcing this in the dog during a designated short calving season
The effigy idea is interesting, guess you have to make one.
The effigy idea is interesting, guess you have to make one.
Spore Ag said:
Interesting about the guard dog. Difficulty reinforcing this in the dog during a designated short calving season
The effigy idea is interesting, guess you have to make one.
Our half akbash LGDs chase the birds off, but once the sheep and goats split up, it's hard for them to monitor everything when they break up in to smaller groups and spread out across a few hundred acres in a brushy pasture. When we put them on a half section wheat/milo field and they can see everything, they will come clear across the field to make sure no birds are landing around the flock.
Only thing I can think of is to get more dogs to cover all the ground for our situation.
O.G. said:Gunny456 said:
Here is what they are doing about it up here in the Ozarks.
https://agriculture.mo.gov/blackvultures.php
I do not have a problem with thinning this particular herd. They have no natural predators and every cell tower in south Texas is covered with them.
With roadkill and nuisance animals being killed and left in the field provide abundant food sources for these scavengers. It would not surprise me if their population has grown significantly over the past decades.
Same with wild critters in suburbia. They all figure out that food is everywhere in these neighborhoods. It provides endless entertainment on NextDoor, especially coyotes and snakes
Featured Stories
See All
Kentucky shellacking raises more questions about Elko's Aggies
by Olin Buchanan
Learned, Loved, Loathed: Kentucky 31, Texas A&M 21
by Olin Buchanan
12 Key Statistics: Kentucky 31, Texas A&M 21
by Luke Evangelist
40:49
16h ago
12k
TexAgs Post Game Wrap: Kentucky 31, No. 9 Texas A&M 21
by David Nuño
Maroon Elephant
While we're pointing problems out, quit wearing off colored gear
in Billy Liucci's TexAgs Premium
64