Turkey Vultures In Los Angeles

Over the past 4 days people all across North America have been counting birds for science. Great Backyard Bird Count.

I submitted seven lists in the Los Angeles Area. They ranged from the seashore at Malibu Lagoon to Griffith Park in the heart of Los Angeles, to the Sepulveda Basin Wildlife Reserve and a parking lot at a strip mall.

Some of the data recorded:

• 31 brown pelicans at Malibu Lagoon and 24 dead pelicans, one of the theories is that the ocean currents have altered the availability of fish. The fish have gone deeper and brown pelicans are not deep divers. Dolphins push fish to the surface where seabirds can also benefit, but this isn't happening. The brown pelicans that have stayed locally are starving.
• decreased numbers of double-crested cormorants and white pelicans (other fish-eating bird)
• spotted towhees, shy birds that I rarely see only in my yard, sited at 6 locations
• large populations of hummingbirds, including a chick in a nest in my yard
• migrating turkey vultures
  

Video of turkey vulture warming in the sun.

Turkey vultures migrate through the Los Angeles area every year. A number of these large black birds roost in a group of tall trees beside the Ventura Fwy near the intersection with Balboa Blvd. As the morning air warms and begins to rise, the turkey vultures circle over the freeway. As they circle, they ride the rising thermals up high into the air. This is called kettling. Turkey vultures eat carrion or dead things. They aren't a threat to humans or pets and they are vital members of the Earth's clean up crew.

Get to know the shape of the turkey vulture as it soars overhead. These birds travel all the way down into South America to breed during the winter and then return. When I see the "TV"s soaring over the freeway in the morning, I always wonder: Where have they come from? I know some of them have been places I would love to see. And where are they going?