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... surrounding a sizable grassy lawn as their "backyards".
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One night, having closed and walked home from my neighborhood bar, I went out on the
back balcony to enjoy the moonlit night. (Did I mention the joint on the way home?)
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On the rooftop of one of the buildings, I could see an owl silhouetted against the night
sky, probably patiently waiting for a field mouse to show him/herself so he/she could be
invited to dinner. I made some mousey squeaking noises and saw the owl's head make
the slightest move in my direction, but he/she wasn't fooled and went back to ignoring me.
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I squeaked for another 15 minutes without effect and wandered off to bed.
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I got up the next morning and went out to the balcony, there to find that the owl was
a plastic "scarecrow" that I had never noticed before. The slight move of its head in my
direction was just my imagination, once again... runnin' away with me.
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The only thing that saved my pride was that I hadn't been standing out on the balcony
and making loud "WHOOO -- WHOOO -- WHOOO" noises.
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At least that owl didn't attack you. Man! Are you lucky!

Maybe the apartment manager (if you can find one listed) if you don't want to call the Police?
Buzzards have extreamly good eyesight, and know the difference between a carcass and a person or pet napping by sight. Unless someone across the street is sitting in their front room preparing a skinned goat or a quarter cow to grill on the balcony BBQ, they shouldn't have been attracted.

It's interesting to think that buzzards would be scoping out high-rise windows in the city, though.
I know city falcons do occasionally, because they're looking at pet birds near windows or balcony bird-feeders.

Haele

DU member Mira wrote of the same thing a couple weeks back, a buzzard stuck its nose into the chimney of the house next door, unfortunately it turned out the lady in the house was deceased for several days.
Which sort of confirmed that buzzards/vultures, whatever you call them in your area, go by smell.

We have them in the skies a lot down here in the South.
Lots of roads, lots of fast drivers =road kill.

We even have a resident hawk or two in the neighborhood. Raccoons, too, I'm sure.

They really didn't stay but a few minutes -- maybe they saw somebody's pet moving around, realized it was alive, and lost interest?

it would be reason for suspicion.
Or if they are circling round the house for awhile...

It was pretty damn funny to see them circling over the place all the time. Well, to ME it was funny!

They are probably a nesting pair on the lookout for nesting territory. Perhaps they saw their reflections in the glass.

But maybe they were scoping out the neighborhood for a nest.