A Wake of Vultures?

I met a group of vultures at Washington Valley Park last autumn when I noticed a bunch of them in a patch of trees between the Washington Valley Reservoir and Newman's Lane. As you can see from the 1st photo, even a casual glance in their direction made it clear there were large birds up there. A quick look through my binoculars confirmed what I pretty much knew, that these were vultures.

November 29, 2022 at Washington Valley Park
Photo 251085840, (c) jpviolette, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC)

Similar to when I saw a rafter of Wild Turkeys, I wondered what you're supposed to call a group of vultures. This webpage provided me with 3 candidates:

  • A colony of vultures. This certainly suggests a group, though I wonder if it implies more cooperation and cohesiveness than a group of mixed-species vultures really represents. Also, a colony sounds a little more geographically persistent than I'd like for birds that won't stay in these particular trees for more than a few hours. Perhaps I'd be inclined to describe a group of vultures breeding and raising children in the same general area as a colony.
  • A committee of vultures. This does a better job of representing a gathering that's not tied to a specific location. And I think I like this term for vultures gathering around a carcass, where the arguing, bickering, and pecking order probably does bear a resemblance to a committee. But these vultures didn't appear to be doing anything more than resting; I'm not sure there's enough interaction going on to constitute a committee.
  • A wake of vultures. I think this is my favorite since both wakes and vultures are associated with death. I guess the only weakness to this collective term is that while a death leading to a human wake is frequently a somber, mournful affair, a death leading to a wake of vultures probably results in a happy time of riotous feasting.

I'm not sure how canonical the terms above are; none are documented on Wikipedia's webpage on collective animal names.
November 29, 2022 at Washington Valley Park
Photo 251085638, (c) jpviolette, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC)

While most of the vultures in this particular wake were Turkey Vultures (see above), there was at least 1 Black Vulture in there too (see below).

November 29, 2022 at Washington Valley Park
Photo 251085641, (c) jpviolette, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC)

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Tussock Moth Herd

Image
Some caterpillars are usually seen in large numbers (like Armyworm Moth caterpillars and Eastern Tent Caterpillars ), while most are more solitary. The Milkweed Tussock Moth caterpillars (more about them are here ) seem to be slightly social. I'll sometimes see them alone, but more often I'll see them in groups of 2-9 members. In the 1st picture below, you can see there is a clear size difference in some of these individuals. I'm almost certain the little one in the middle is in an earlier instar than the others (though they lack the colorful tufts of fuzz in their earliest instars). August 31, 2021 at Washington Valley Park Photo 167477945, (c) jpviolette, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC) In the picture below, it's clear that these caterpillars don't require a lot of personal space. August 31, 2021 at Washington Valley Park Photo 167477979, (c) jpviolette, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC)
Read more

Copper Underwing Caterpillar

Image
I believe this caterpillar to be a Copper Underwing [1]. At least the coloring and the dorsal hump (near the left end of the caterpillar) seem consistent with the Copper Underwing. These caterpillars are not what you'd consider picky eaters; my Caterpillars of Eastern North America describes their diet thusly: Many wooded plants including apple, basswood, blueberry, cherry chestnut, current, grape, greenbrier, hawthorn, hickory, lilac, maple, oak, poplar, raspberry, rhododendron, viburnum, Virginia creeper, and walnut. Wikipedia adds: Ash, privet, honeysuckle, rose, and service trees. That's a pretty wide range of trees and shrubs. One of the challenges of finding them is that they could be almost anywhere; the other challenges are: Their green coloring blends in pretty darned well with the average leaf. They have a habit of feeding underneath leaves, so they're probably not visible when looking down at their location. They have a tendency to move from leaf-to-leaf; if you
Read more

Eastern Pondhawks

Image
I'm going to try something different today with my Eastern Pondhawk pictures. I'm going to let ChatGPT do my blog today. (ChatGPT is an AI program that you can converse with in a pretty human way; an explanation of it is here .) Me:  Can you tell me something interesting about the Eastern Pondhawk? ChatGPT:  The Eastern Pondhawk (Erythemis simplicicollis) is a dragonfly species that is native to North America. It is a medium-sized dragonfly, with a wingspan of about 3 inches, and can be found in a variety of habitats, including wetlands, marshes, and ponds. One interesting characteristic of the Eastern Pondhawk is its mating behavior. Male Eastern Pondhawks are known for their territorial behavior and will defend their territory from other males. They will patrol their territory and will try to mate with any females that fly into their territory. Another interesting fact about the Eastern Pondhawk is that it is a fast flyer and is able to hover in midair. It is also an import
Read more