Thursday Updates and Related Stories: Vultures, the CP Turkey, and the Tompkins Square Squirrel Box

Uncle Buzzy, the Turkey Vulture that reminded me how sweet eyed vultures can be. Which reminded long time contributor Betty Jo of California in her response to the post Eagle Days, about some young vultures...


This sweet eyed young vulture was photographed by Donna of Tulsa.

Hi Donna,
That is such good news about the eagles becoming a money making attraction through observation rather than killing.

I was interested in your comments about the Turkey Vulture. Growing up I was around a lot of Vultures on ranches and roadsides. I found them fascinating and felt sad for them because they were killed in cruel ways by people who did not have a clue about reality.

But I have a positive story about vultures. My family had a vulture nest box!
In the 70's a farm came up for sale with an abandoned house which my father persuaded my sister to buy. He wanted it because my mother's family had lived in that house when he was "courting" her; several of her siblings had been born in the house.

My Dad built a water "tank" in Texan lingo and ran cows there. One day he was leading a young nephew on a tour of the farm and house; as they went up the stairs, they heard a frightening hissing sound--no, the house was not haunted as they first feared--they found 2 scared white puff ball vulture chicks! The vultures flew in the upstairs window and raised their young in a dry warm nest box.
How wonderful is that? My Dad, being a wildlife lover, loved the idea, so they were safe.

Your dad was definitely my kind of guy! I wish I had a vulture nest upstairs. Of course I don't have an upstairs, but if they'd promise to come I'd build a box on the roof for them. My, my, wonder what the neighbors would think about that?

Photograph courtesy of the NYC Parks Department



The Central Park Turkey, back when she was in Central Park




Katherine Herzog, long time Central Park bird, hawkwatcher, and let us add a real fan of the Central Park Turkey, with her thoughts on the Turkey relocation issue.



(The DEC decided that the Central Park Turkey should be released into Pelham Park instead of her previous home in Central Park.)







Dear Donna,

The Central Park Wild Turkey captured by "a member of the public" was all Girl!

Several park regulars who were actually raised on poultry farms pointed out some of the obvious differences - the female does not have the noticeable wattle, no "beard" on the breast and no fighting spurs on the legs, and does not fan the tail....like her male counterparts.


She was a real character and interacted with squirrels, birds, and unfortunately too much with humans.

That was her ultimate downfall.

I believe it was the DEC who "rescued" the coyote from Central Park a few years back and that ultimately lead to this poor creature's untimely death.

CP Turkey knew the park very well and where to find food, how to evade unleashed dogs and where to find water.

That she's now, after being thoroughly traumatized, being put into a foreign setting in this most difficult of seasons, winter, is truly outrageous. She should be immediately returned "home" to Central Park!

Katherine




Valkyrie in Tompkins Square Park attempts to use her x ray vision to help catch the squirrel snug in her house.
Photograph by Francois Portmann, www.fotoportmann.com




A note from Carol Vinzant, wildlife rehabilitator specializing in squirrels, and a journalist besides-

I put up that painted house in Tompkins. I'm glad the awning is working nicely to protect my squirrel tenant.

animaltourism.blogspot.com
editor@animaltourism.com


Carol,

Is the squirrel Valkyrie is after one of your past orphans? I thought perhaps not as all the ones I'd seen had been gray. Not that I want this one to be eaten you understand. Though as far as I can see, the squirrels seem to be outsmarting Valkyrie so far.


Nicely built house, and the awning is indeed working. Love the paint job too. Goes well with the neighborhood.
D.


AND didn't I say Carol was also a writer? Check out her newest offering on Peoplepets.com concerning the shelters going all out for the Obama family dog search--


http://www.peoplepets.com/news/pets-in-the-news/shelters-offer-obamas-celebrity-treatment/1

TECHNICAL DIFFICULTIES

I'll keep trying....

Pale Male Jr. and Charlotte and Making Decisions About Home for a Turkey

Photograph by Brett Odom

Hurray! Brett Odom, main watcher of Pale Male Jr. and Charlotte, has documented that the Central Park South hawks may be back in the breeding business for the season. Here's his note--

Hey Donna.

I finally managed to get a photo of Junior today. Unfortunately, I only had my 135mm lens and no tripod so it is not a very clear photo. Actually Charlotte is also in the photo behind the glass to his right. She is being dissected by the strip between the two glass panes. Her head is behind the left pane and her tail is behind the right pane. You cannot see her head because she has dipped it into the bowl of the nest, but you can just barely make out the tail.

Regards,
Brett

Fingers crossed for this nest's success too!


Photograph by Eleanor Tauber
THE CENTRAL PARK TURKEY

From Karen of Rhode Island, concerning the directive from the DEC concerning the Central Park Turkey that gave scant choice of either releasing CP to Pelham Park or euthanasia, without an option to release her back to the environment in which she had lived and chosen for herself--

What is with the "Department of Environmental Conservation" blathering about euthanasia? Who are these people? This doesn't sound like conservation to me, more like people who have no clue about animals.

The DEC does have euthanasia rules concerning wildlife that is not fit enough to be released. The rules state that an unreleaseable animal must be euthanized unless it becomes an animal used by a licensed wildlife educator to educate the public or can aid in the rehabilitation of others of its species i.e. a mom raptor with a bad wing can still feed orphaned eyasses very nicely thank you. But this is the first I’ve heard of an ultimatum that insists an originally healthy animal must be put down rather than return the animal to the location where it was mistakenly nabbed in the first place. It sounds rather draconian that the only other DEC acceptable option is to place the healthy kidnapped turkey in a park where there is an established flock of other turkeys who have no relationship with the releasee.

I’m told by a local poultry farmer that when it comes to groups of “poultry” one never knows if the new bird in town will be accepted, shunned, injured by the others, or even killed, particularly if it is a male. I’ve not seen the CP Turkey in the flesh, but I was told originally that he was a Tom.

What about a concern that perhaps CP was lonely being the only one of it’s kind in Central Park? If that were the concern, an answer could have been to put CP back in the park with a couple of other stranger hen turkeys.

It is almost as if the animal is being punished because there is tension amongst the people involved. Just doesn’t seem right somehow, does it? That would take care of the lonely factor and give park visitors more turkeys to look at, and come spring baby turkeys and wouldn’t all that be really cool.


Not only am I concerned for CP but also about the visitors to the park who could use a WOW moment to wake them up. Like Pale Male or any of the larger very noticeable birds in Central Park, they are just terrific tools to get city dwellers, of which Central Park has a very high density, to actually look for wildlife when in the park. Think about it. You’re walking down the path absorbed in talking to your friend about the latest movie, when the path curves and WHOA!!! What is that??? That is a huge, naked headed BIRD with humongous feet!

Some people are completely transformed by moments like that and finally realize, and know in a visceral way that there are creatures in the wild who are really worth more than another subdivision.

On the other hand, perhaps the DEC was concerned that if someone could grab the CP Turkey for benevolent if mistaken motives, someone else might grab CP Turkey for nefarious reasons. But if that were the fear why might not some Bad Egg grab CP Turkey in Pelham Park, flock or no?

In my experience with turkey flocks in Wisconsin, a hen will stand her ground and fight if cornered to protect her poults but when it comes to mature members of the flock, it’s every bird for himself when it comes to external danger. Besides if the thought is that CP is too tame for his own good, due to soliciting snacks at close quarters, would it not be possible that CP will just keep doing it at Pelham and by example teach the Pelham Turkeys to put themselves into the same dangers? Though I suspect that the Pelham Park Turkeys are completely aware of how to get the goodies themselves.

It would be easier to take if we knew the reasons why…and perhaps then we'd agree?




CP Turkey did choose for himself, without coercion, to live in Central Park after all.



Donegal Browne