Portal de Periódicos da CAPES

A Turkey Buzzard Roost

1929; Oxford University Press; Volume: 31; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês

10.2307/1363265

1938-5129

Frank A. Leach,

Avian ecology and behavior

Buzzard' s roosts are such places as the well known scavenger bird, the Turkey Buzzard, or Turkey Vulture (Cathartes aura septentrionalis), selects and habitually makes use of for passing the night.Although during the day these vultures seem to pursue their hunt for carrion food independently of one another, and are seldom seen in greater number than two, three, or four, unless some large carcass has been discovered, when the day' s feeding is over and it comes time to prepare for the night they display a remarkably gregarious habit.A place is selected in a heavy growth of timber, and there the birds congregate and roost among the tree-tops for the night.Once a roosting place has been chosen, it continues to be the nightly resort of the buzzards, not only night after night, but year after year.How much interference with the coming of the big birds, or the presence of humans in the vicinity of the roosts, it would require to cause an abandonment of the chosen places, is an open question, as will be noted by statements to follow.Another unsettled feature of the roosting habit of the vultures is the extent of territory supplied by one roost.It must be considerable, judging from the fact that in and about the neighborhood of the roost there are times when not a single buzzard can be seen, and miles from the place can be traveled without sight of one.Yet, with the closing of the day, these most graceful flyers come soaring in to the chosen spot, at times singly, but more commonly in two' s, or three' s, or in even greater numbers, and frequently at such heights that they appear but little more than specks in the sky.As I have seen but one roost, and have not found any Pacific Coast literature bearing on the subject, I am unable to give the average number of vultures constituting the night colonies.However, the roost I am about to describe has as its maximum number about thirty.Another peculiar feature in the habits of the birds is that they seek for nesting purposes rough, rocky places, difficult of access, away from the roosting center.The nest may be placed in a small cave, recess, or hollow stump, but wherever it may be, it is most securely located with minimum chances of being disturbed.Although I have been interested in all kinds of birds and their habits from boyhood days here in California, it was never my fortune to discover a buzzard' s roost until four years ago.Then, as now, I was living at the Mount Diablo Country Club, situated at the base of the southwestern flank of Mount Diablo.The club grounds embrace several hundred acres of land.On the extreme western limit of these grounds there is a grove of large eucalyptus ,trees.Until about five years ago they were so isolated from any of the activities of the club that the place was seldom visited ; but in 1923 the club extended its golf course so that one of its greens and connecting fairways were located along the north side of the grove of eucalyptus, and as a consequence thereafter the locality was seldom without the presence of golf players or workmen tending the golf course.In the year prior, on the opposite side of the grove, a large gang of men with teams of horses and excavation appliances were engaged for several months in constructing a large reservoir.Very soon after the golfers began to use this new part of the course it was reported to me that some Turkey Buzzards were nesting in the grove.An investigation failed to reveal any nests, but did develop the fact that here was a real Buzzard' s roost, which seemed to be the night quarters for about thirty of the birds.The conditions about the grove had been so changed, as detailed in the foregoing paragraph, that I thought it probable the buzzards would now be so disturbed that they would abandon the place and seek new roosting quarters, of greater seclusion.But four years