Every winter, thousands of the birds swoop down on a state park in Georgia to perch in its trees or roost by its lake, and curious humans soon follow.
By ELLIOTT MINOR, Associated Press
Published March 28, 2004
[Photo:Carlton Ward ]
The best times to see the vultures are early in the morning while they lounge in the trees and by the lake, or about an hour before sunset, when they return to roost, a park manager says.
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ADEL, Ga. - Vultures, thousands of them, pack the limbs of the pine and cypress trees at Reed Bingham State Park, their menacing beaks and shiny black feathers forming one of the nation's eeriest natural spectacles.
California has its swallows of Capistrano, Washington state offers bald eagle watching on the Upper Skagit River, but at Reed Bingham it's vultures.
Hundreds of them live year-round at the park in south-central Georgia, but the population soars into the thousands each winter when migrating vultures arrive from the North.
The park offers fishing, boating, camping, mini golf and swimming, but some visitors come just to see the vultures, said Sam Williams, the park's assistant manager.
"We have a lot of people within a 50- or 60-mile radius who hear about the buzzards and come," he said. "We also have travelers coming off the interstate."
The best times to see the birds are shortly after the park opens at 7 a.m., while the vultures are lounging in the trees and on the banks of the lake, or about an hour before sunset, when they return to roost, Williams said.
In the morning, it helps to have a boat to travel upriver to their roosting trees, but a boat is not essential because many of them bask in the morning sun on the banks, a short distance from a road.
"In the evening, you can park anywhere around the lake and watch them come in the hundreds," Williams said.
The park gets about 250,000 visitors a year, about 25,000 of them to see the vultures, Williams said.
Also known as buzzards, the large black birds perch in the trees or lounge on the grassy banks of the park's 325-acre lake, waiting for favorable updrafts. Then groups of them spiral high into the sky to search for their favorite food: roadkill or other decomposing animals.
Though their diet may seem distasteful, they help rid the countryside of dead, rotting flesh that could spread viruses and bacteria.
"If you ask most people what they think of a buzzard, they'll probably make a face and make a negative comment," said Chet Powell, the park's summertime interpretive ranger. "But they're very necessary, and they perform a vital function."
Sometimes roadkill just isn't enough for the vultures, though.
They'll eat windshield wiper blades and rubber gaskets around windshields. They pluck out the rubbery strips between sections of a roadway that crosses a dam at the park, and they peck holes in the park's foam life preservers.
Reed Bingham has two of the three vulture species found in the United States: turkey and black. The California condor, North America's largest land bird, is the third species. They used to range over much of the West, but now they're endangered and found mostly in Southern California. Turkey vultures, recognizable by their bald, red heads, are found across the United States and in Canada.
Turkey vultures and condors have to eat dead animals because their talons are too weak to kill prey.
Their ability to soar on updrafts with little effort impressed Wilbur and Orville Wright, who studied the flight of vultures before making their historic first flight just over 100 years ago. The brothers concluded that the birds twist their wing tips to steer and maintain level flight; the Wrights borrowed that feature for their plane.
Black vultures, which have gray heads, also eat carrion, but they have stronger talons and sometimes attack small animals. They range from New Jersey to Florida and west to Texas and Arkansas. Less adept at soaring, they have to flap their wings more often than turkey vultures to remain aloft.
Bill Kohlmoos, president of the 800-member Turkey Vulture Society, wonders how the birds survive on contaminated food that would sicken or kill humans.
"There is something in their digestive system that kills virus and bacteria. If we can find out what that is, it could be of tremendous value to human beings worldwide," said Kohlmoos of Reno, Nev., who is seeking funding for a study of the birds' digestive systems.
Kohlmoos has also prepared a 10-page pamphlet to teach search-and-rescue teams how to use buzzards to locate victims.
Black vultures often tag along with turkey vultures to take advantage of their superior intelligence, keener vision and acute sense of smell, which is capable of detecting odors in parts per trillion, Kohlmoos said. At Reed Bingham, they perch side by side.
Turkey vultures are playful and gentle and seem to enjoy living close to humans, Kohlmoos said.
"They have a sense of humor," he said. "Before roosting at night, they play tag, soar into the air and play follow the leader. As the wind dies, they settle in trees."
When severely threatened, they play dead and on rare occasions have been known to spew vomit at attackers, he said.
"It's true, but it's not common," he said. "They can become a pet like a dog, but they can also become a nuisance."
The Friends of Reed Bingham State Park usually host a Buzzard Festival in February, before the transient birds fly North to nest. This year the plans went awry, so there won't be a festival.
However, Hinckley, Ohio, about 25 miles south of Cleveland, will celebrate the beginning of spring with its traditional buzzard festival in March, when 50 to 60 birds return to nest.
If you go
GETTING THERE: Reed Bingham State Park is 6 miles west of Interstate 75 near Adel, which is about 192 miles south of Atlanta. Take Exit 39 west on State Road 37. Park entrances are well-marked.
