Yeah I have to agree they are one of my favorites too I remember last halloween seeing one on our street and I live in the suburbs outside of Philadelphia. He was chased away by the cars though. Sarah

The Turkey Vulture is one of the most graceful and beautiful creatures in the air, and I find them quite beautiful to look at.
My favorite raptor is the Red-Shouldered Hawk....

Rich

Owls to me look the most out-of-this-world. However, I have to go with the Bald Eagle.

"O'er the land of the free,
And the home of the brave."

God Bless our Troops.

Virgil says "Hello."

{{!gwi}}

I love black vultures. They are one of my favorites and they have the best personality! They are the kings of the sky IMO.

I also love Red-Tail Hawks, American Kestrals and Great Horned Owls. Barn Owls too and Peregrine falcons, and all eagles.

Ok, Well its really hard to pick just one!

Elly, tell me more about Virgil.

Hands down, Falco Rusticolus, the largest falcon of them all, the Gyrfalcon!

Virgil is an unreleasable Turkey vultures that resides at The Raptor Trust, a wild bird rehabilitation center in Millington, NJ. He was illegally raised by people, and so became "imprinted." He lacks appropriate fear of humans and seeks out human company instead of vulture company.

You can see Virgil and other unreleasable raptors at The Raptor Trust in Millington, NJ.

Here is a link that might be useful: The Raptor Trust

Vultures can not be trapped or kept by falconers. Federal falconry regulations do not allow such.

Falconry is not the keeping of raptors. It's the training and hunting with a raptor. Since vultures don't "hunt," they have no place in falconry.

John, I have been told that native vultures can be kept by licensed falconers. True, they do not hunt, but a lot of people certainly use them for education. Maybe it's a rehabber license, but these certainly are not permanently crippled or disabled birds. I once held an apprentice license for falconry back in the early '80's, but have had so much other consuming work to do, have not done any hands-on raptor work for over 20 years.

Snowy Owl. (See "Snowy Owl Story" post).

Turkey Vultures have to be my favorite too.
I live next to a field & put cracked corn & chicken scratch in the edge of the field for the Pigeons & Crows. When I have food scraps I always put them out there too the Crows really go for the scraps.
Starting last year Turkey Vultures started showing up to eat the scraps too. Last winter I had eleven Turkey Vultures out there at one time once, what a sight to see! Needless to say I didn't get anything done til they left, watched them til they were all gone.
They have become frequent visitors, think they give my house a fly by daily to see if I've put anything out.
The Crows aren't too happy about sharing, last week I noticed a huge shadow, looked up & the Crow was chasing a Turkey Vulture off, what a sight to see, the Crow would not give up! :-)

Dream, crows are aggressive birds. Vultures will generally turn the other cheek. If you desire to feed more vultures than crows, cover up the meat scraps to hide them. Those turkeys will find it. They can out-smell a bloodhound! I like crows ok, but not as much as turkey vultures. Crows are smarter, but turkeys are not dumb. In fact, turkeys [and other vultures] are more trainable than falconry hawks. They are far more entertaining and interactive, too.

Don't know if that would work or not, the Crows have been eating here for years & pretty much check out everything, they let out that 'Caw', 'Caw' when they see me to bring more food.
Do Turkey Vultures migrate? I've never seen that many at one time except in the winter.
I'm in the Houston area so we don't have much winter but wondering if some might just be visiting. It's not at all uncommon to see up to six to eight soaring but I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw eleven up close eating, was wishing I had more scraps!
BTW, it's about 12-15 ft the other side of my driveway where I put the food scraps so I really get a good look at them. Watching all of them take off & land is a sight to see.

Yes, vultures do migrate, but in south Oklahoma and throughout much of Texas, they stay year round. I have always loved to watch the vultures around the Arbuckle Mountains near Davis, OK even in the winter. The most I ever saw was when I lived at Lake Whitney, TX for a few years. They are plentiful there....both species. The vultures are not nearly as common around the Arbuckles as they used to be.
If you live in the country, you can actually help turkey vultures by setting up small shelters for them to nest in. They nest on the ground just like gamebirds do. Often old sheds and barns serve as ideal locations and we can aid the birds by making such predator-proof. If you continue to actively feed them, they will nest nearby. Usually only one or two chicks per nest. If I ever get back to Lake Whitney, I'd like to experiment with old dog houses

I love Cooper's hawks. Anything that is agile enough to feast on songbirds is quite a predator in my book.

Wow, I did not know they nested on the ground. Unfortunately I do not live in the country, I live in town in a subdivision but at the end of a dead end street next to the field. Further over in the field there's one row of trees, and another field on the other side of the trees. A lot of birds nest in that row of trees, I've wondered if the Crows nest there, see them in the trees a lot..
Across the field is a Jr College, across from that Walmart & Office Depot, behind my property another field.
Even though I don't live near a real wooded area once in a while I see a Raccoon or Possum in my yard. I always have a lot of birds at my feeders & in the edge of the field. I have a family of Squirrels that nested in an Oak tree in my back yard. I set them up a feeding station in the tree, they still hit the bird feeders but don't think quite as much. They put on a show for me every day... :-)

In my area, they nest almost exclusively in old buildings (on the floor), and dearly love abandoned buildings, where the woods has grown up around them. Years ago, many old buildings in the woods were thought to be haunted, because as you approach one that has nesting Vultures, any adults present will run around the room, flapping their wings and bouncing off the walls and making quite a racket to try and scare intruders away. That failing, they will exit the building flying, and attempt to throw up on you (regurgitate) a stream of the nastiest, smelliest old semi-digested dead animal meat (black, in color) you can imagine. What a defense! I haven't been hit yet but I've been with those who have--and you have to walk quite a distance from them after the hit. Pee-yew! The Buzzard (Vulture) babies are white, of all things, and so uncoordinated they can hardly stand without falling over--particularly when their bellies are full of regurgitated meat the parents leave nearby them. More pee-yew! It's quite a scene inside an old house in the woods where Buzzards (Vultures) nest--great, white gobs of Buzzard dooty everywhere, regurgitated dead animal meat lying around, and a white, downy baby Buzzard (or two) teetering around, small at the top, with a great big belly, trying to keep from falling over. I couldn't live like that.

Mojo, I have seen the downy white baby turkeys. They remind me of the gangly seabird chicks with uglier heads. Baby vultures have downy heads. Now a baby black vulture is quite a different deal. They are not white, they are not black. They are a pinkish light brown, heavier on the pink, though. It is a very pretty color and very unusual for such a bird. Black vultures also lack the white down and feather butts like the adult turkeys have.

For those who find the vultures to be favorite birds, understand that these birds may soon be removed from the category of "raptors." Those of us who work with true raptors (hawks, falcons, eagles), the birds in the order Falconiformes, have long suspected that the New World vultures are altogether different and donÂt belong in this order.

Modern genetics has now borne this out. Genetic analysis (DNA sequencing) of the New World vultures (not the Old World species) has shown that the turkey vulture is very closely related to the Old World storks. Vulture genetics strongly suggests that those big black birds we see are really little more than short-legged, short-necked storks. They are now understood to be only very distantly related to authentic diurnal raptors, such as hawks and eagles.

Consequently, donÂt be surprised to learn that the avian taxonomists have removed these vultures from the order Falconiformes and stuck them in with the storks, or perhaps, created a new order.

By modern reckoning, our vultures arenÂt raptors, any more than storks are. After all, they donÂt even kill anything. They just have a (slightly) hooked beak. Nothing else about them connotes "raptor." This was a classification error from the 19th century. ItÂs time for it to get corrected.

I aree, John. The DNA technology is re-writing a lot of biology texts. For instance, we all once believed skunks were typical mustelids. Now, DNA has taken them away from the other weasels and given them a new classification. It's a family all of their own. Storks are not technically raptors, true, but they are predacious birds. Some are scavengers as well. Insects, fish and herps make up the majority of their food, but they will take birds and rodents. A common road runner will eat the same fauna except fish and the carrion, and no one will ever call a road runner a bird of prey.
Old World vultures and the new World ones are not even in the same family. I agree, that like owls, vultures should not be falconiformes, but have their own order, which can still include the two existing families that divide the Old and the New World species.
By any other name or nomenclature, I still LOVE all vultures!

For all of you vulture lovers I took this picture at the Carolina Renaissance Festival today. My camera broke after this picture so this was sadly all I got. I bought a disposable but it will take me a while to get it developed.

{{!gwi}}

WOW! Now that is one species I'd love to have!

I thought I was seeing a Turkey Vulture a few days ago, but it seemed wrong (a single bird flying low, they've been migrating in numbers high up), and a close look showed it to be a Zone-tailed Hawk (the third I've seen here in town). I have to say I preferred that to another TV sighting.

My favorite raptor would surely be one of the owls, but it's hard to pick one. I've had a lot of great owl moments (starting with the Great Horned Owl in my basement when I was maybe five years old). Too hard I say!

-O-

It's really hard to pick a favorite. I'll go with the peregrine falcon.

When refering to raptors does it include owls or are they in a different group?

Richard

Owls are indeed included.

Bald Eagle...hands down. Not only my favorite raptor, but my favorite animal! If there is such a thing as reincarnation I wanna come back as one!

Linda

This is a very interesting thread. I can't pick a favorite raptor as they all intrigue me. I enjoy learning about them on this forum when I have the time to check in. I've only begun to become interested in raptors in the past couple years and so far have photographed an immature sharp shinned hawk, an immature Cooper's Hawk, a family of Great Horned Owls and an Eastern Screech owl either on my property or nearby. I love seeing, photographing and learning about all of them.

ok, i have waited this long because i couldn't narrow it down. my first love at a raptor dates back to kindergarten- the bald eagle. actually it is pretty "ironic": i can remember asking my mom for a quarter to "help save the bald eagles" i don't know if it was the teacher, or if it was the school, but i remember i needed to take it to class. so, here i was 30 years later, fighting development of plum island as a preserve for their winter and nesting sight.
i am proof that educating children and raising their awareness works!
now, on the other extreme, i just love the kestrel. this is strange for me because i am a "bigger the better" kind of person- irish wolfhound definitely preferred over a small dg, give me a horse- make it a "heavy horse"
there is just something about the spirit of the bird being bigger than its size. i really think they have taht warrior spirit despite that apparant fragility i have heard of when kept captive. although i have never had experience with them.
owl are just too tough to decide between. again, the raptors seem to win me over despite size- oh, that screech owl's song! a am partial to barn owls simply because ot the endangered/threatened status. i have never seen one!
the great horned does win over the barred, but that doesn't make the barred any less "endearing."
i do like the turkey vulture, too. so that about sums it up (love red tails in flight calls, they are always saying something) i ahven't gone in to many species. mostly i am trying to stick to the ones of my area. but, the harpy eagle, now there is a magnificent bird! anyone see jeff corwin with the harpy on his arm? it kept pecking his head. i say pecking because with that kind of strenght it was more like a love tap!

My favorites are the beautiful American Kestrel and the majestic Great-Horned Owl.The former I rarely get to see, the later I see on a regular basis because I have found their nesting grounds.
I would love to see a Saw-Whet Owl one day.
-stephen

Saw-whet Owls win the 'cutest NA owl award'.

-O-