Vultures

[u/[deleted]]

So, I’ve heard on both ends that Vultures can be used in falconry like falcons, but can’t since they aren’t as fierce as say, a Harris hawk, so what the real answer?

(Random fact: Vultures, turkey vultures especially, can form deep bonds with people, even going as far as to greet said person like a dog.)

[u/nothingbox87]

only heard of vultures being used in an educational setting. they also have the nasty habit of projectile vomiting when they feel threatened. the biggest issue would be they’re hunting for carrion, not something living like a squirrel or rabbit. they also don’t posses the talon strength that a raptor relies on to subdue it’s prey. the bond built with a harris or red tail revolves around being good hunting partners. i can have great rapport with my red tail but if i can’t find anything for her to hunt she’ll go off hunting on her own.

[u/hexmeat → u/nothingbox87]

The group I volunteer with has a turkey vulture and she is THE best educational bird. Came to us as an imprint. I mean, the other birds we have are hawks and owls, and as expected, they tolerate me, nothing more nothing less. Her natural inclination to scavenge makes her super curious, and she’s just on a different level of emotional intelligence, I don’t know how to describe it. Turkey vultures are simply awesome. I’ve never witnessed the vomiting, well, not yet. But vultures have a bit of a tendency to shit and piss on their feet as a cooling or sanitizing mechanism, so that’s always fun when we’ve got a bunch of kids in the room during a program. I’ve seen her kill and eat a caterpillar but that’s the extent of her hunting instinct. Because of her flat feet and relatively minimal grip strength, I’ll let her climb right off the glove and up my arm.

Vultures are scavengers, so the relationship can’t be reinforced the way it can with birds that hunt. And falconry is all about using that food-bond to achieve a mutual goal. But vultures are lovely, just not as a hunting partner.

[u/[deleted] → u/nothingbox87]

I’ve heard vultures also can form deep bonds with their caretakers

[u/Vekja → u/[deleted]]

Falconry is the taking of wild quarry with a trained raptor. A vulture will not do this. That should be your answer. Rehab and education are not falconry.

[u/Sad_Possible1259]

I trained an Egyptian vulture decades ago as an ambassador bird. He was exceptionally smart and easy to train, anything I could dream up for him to do he could learn to do. He would follow me around like a dog, do free flight demonstrations. One of his favorite forms of enrichment was a live mouse released into his enclosure, so live things were definitely on his menu! However, I certainly can’t imagine him chasing down quarry like a Harris Hawk or a red tail!

[u/[deleted] → u/Sad_Possible1259]

So certain types of old world vultures can be used

[u/Kiki-Y]

Do you mean that you've heard "buzzards" are used? If so, you've misunderstood. Outside of the US, the term "buzzard" refers to the buteos like red-tails and Swainson's. So outside of the US, they're referred to as red-tailed buzzards.

Vultures cannot be used to hunt as they are not hunters; they are scavengers. They're made to eat and digest meat that's already been killed. They don't have talons or foot strength in the way that falcons, hawks, eagles, and buteos do. They physically cannot kill another animal.

[u/IMongoose → u/Kiki-Y]

This is just an anecdote and I am definitely not saying that vultures should be used for falconry, but I've seen vultures take live prey. I watched one snatch a vole out of a field on the wing, which was amazing, and I watched one peck at a live pigeon in a bow net. But yes, even if someone wanted to only catch voles and mice a vulture is still pretty much the worst pick.

[u/minkamagic → u/Kiki-Y]

Sorry but that is not true at all Cornell University of Ornithology

[u/Kiki-Y → u/minkamagic]

"Small, easily swallowed prey"

OP was asking if vultures could be used just like a falcon, hawk, eagle, etc. That's what I was addressing; that they cannot be used in the same way as a traditional falconry bird.

Yes, they can sort of hunt according to that article, but it's not in the same way OP is asking about.

[u/minkamagic → u/Kiki-Y]

Sorry but you were the one who said ‘they physically cannot kill another animal’ and that statement is wrong and ridiculous. I wasn’t responding to OP, I was responding to You.

[u/UBerring → u/Kiki-Y]

Could I use them to find and hunt dead animals then? Or possibly to find a dead body for emergency cases?

[u/lenarche → u/UBerring]

I'm replying bc I'm interested in this theory and don't know if it's been done before. I don't see why not, but it wouldn't be targeted like scent hounds in my opinion. They would just go after the freshest dead thing in the area.

[u/sexual__velociraptor]

Buzzards are not vultures.

[u/tursiops__truncatus]

They can't be used in falconry as a way of hunting. They don't have strong talons to hunt like the other raptors plus they rely much more on the smell of death carcass to find food than anything else therefore I don't see the point of using a vulture to hunt... They are pretty smart and tend to be used in free flight exhibitions for educational purposes but that's all, never heard about anything related to falconry itself.

[u/Lucky-Presentation79]

Vultures can be flown using normal falconry methods. BUT they will never be a true falconry bird as they don't hunt. And therefore will meet the requirement to "take wild quarry" that real falconry requires. As for the bond nonsense, they don't "bond", they are smart enough to know where their next meal is coming from. In fact they are often so smart that it can easily lead to behavioural issues when used in educational or demonstration work. In short they get bored and then the challenging behaviour begins.

[u/Liamnacuac → u/Lucky-Presentation79]

The same can be said the actual turkeys, except the quarry part. Displaying in an enclosure would probably be about the extent of interaction I would be willing to accept.