I found more Black Vultures

these guys are everywhere it seems.
in trees


and in flight again

We don't have them on the left coast.

They clean up all the carrion that's a natural part of the cycle of life. They do not take live food.

And yes, you have them on the left coast too. If you didn't you'd notice a new aroma to the air in short order.

is when they destroy property... like upholstery in your car. Or leave large and smelly piles of bird shit.

I'm not complaining, mind you, this is just what I've read about them where there are large numbers. And apparently that is one of the problems... there are large numbers of them. There are seldom more than 3 o4 TVs at any one time, but these guys seem to travel in herds.

mostly because they need thermals to help them gain altitude without a lot of effort and tend to flock to places like that. I've encountered them on camping trips in situations like this. Woke up one morning and found my tent next to a tree with close to a hundred in it. The last thing they do before flight is defecate. You can bet we broke camp really really quietly . . .

They don't like being near people--they're very ungainly on the ground or in a roost and it's hard for them to take flight in a hurry.

I've got to say I've never of an issue with destroying anything unless it's the defecating thing and I'll admit that it doesn't take much buzzard shit to consider whatever it's on destroyed.

what's the difference between these and 'Turkey Buzzards'?

Or Buzzers as they are known in my house- left-over toddler speak.

in the tree shot, and the one in flight is a Turkey V... based on the white flight primary feathers.

they hang together frequently, but are not related closely.

Here's a nice site with photos of both black and TVs.
http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=&imgrefurl=http://vulturesociety.homestead.com/Photos.html&h=321&w=479&sz=16&hl=en&start=19&um=1&tbnid=AGIO6lrp6ne_FM:&tbnh=86&tbnw=129&prev=/images%3Fq%3D%2522turkey%2Bvultures%2522%26start%3D18%26ndsp%3D18%26svnum%3D10%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26client%3Dsafari%26rls%3Den%26sa%3DN

Great site.

and pretty much all over the States. I have never heard of them being destructive. And WJMS you are correct, you have Black Vults and Turkey Vults. The Turkey Vults have the red head and the black vults, well, black/gray heads. ;)