Diet of Black and Turkey Vultures in a Forested Landscape
Neil
E. Kelly1, Dale W. Sparks2, Travis L. DeVault3,
and Olin E. Rhodes, Jr.3
1Department of Geography, Geology, and Anthropology, Indiana
State University,
Terre Haute, IN 47807, USA
2Department of Ecology and Organismal Biology, Indiana State
University,
Terre Haute, IN 47809, USA
3Department of Forestry and Natural Resources, Purdue University,
West Lafayette, IN 47907, USA
Abstract
Black (Coragyps atratus) and Turkey (Cathartes aura) vultures
feed heavily on carrion from domestic animals in agricultural landscapes.
A recent study indicates vultures at a forested site in South Carolina
had much larger home ranges than those residing in agricultural landscapes.
Vulture home ranges at the forested site contained few residential or
agricultural lands, and we hypothesized that vultures at that site fed
extensively on wild carrion. We collected 65 regurgitated pellets from
a communal night roost between 16 October 2000 and 9 April 2002 to test
this hypothesis. The pellets contained undigested parts of consumed carrion
including hair, bone, scales, and claws. Wild mammals, particularly white-tailed
deer (Odocoileus virginianus), common raccoons (Procyon lotor),
Virginia opossums (Didelphis virginiana),
and striped skunks (Mephitis mephitis), were common food items.
The only domestic animal recovered
(in two pellets) was the house cat (Felis catus). This study supports
the observations that carrion resources affect distributions and movement
patterns of Black and Turkey vultures.
SREL Reprint #3043
Kelly, N. E., D. W. Sparks, T. L. DeVault, and J. Rhodes, O.E. 2007. Diet
of Black and Turkey Vultures in a Forested Landscape. The Wilson Journal
of Ornithology 119(2):267-270.
