By ANDREA MCCANN

Indiana Correspondent

SULLIVAN, Ind. — Black vultures, which typically have ranged from central Chile and Uruguay to the southeastern United States, have significantly expanded their range north and west in the last two decades, and Indiana farmers are beginning to notice them preying on newborn calves.

“It’s something that’s been pretty impactful to our producers in areas where (black vultures) are expanding,” said Ethan Lane, senior executive director of the National Cattlemen’s Beef Assoc. “Every calf that’s predated is one not going to the sale barn.”

He said the predation is “gruesome.” The large raptors will peck at a newborn’s eyes, nose, and tongue until the young bovine goes into shock. Then the black vultures will finish killing the calf and devour it. Sometimes they’ve attacked a cow while it’s incapacitated during birth.

“They’re on the calves as soon as they’re born,” Lane said, adding it creates a lot of pressure to get through calving season.

A southern Indiana farmer who prefers not to be identified said he lost three calves to the predators just this spring and knows of another producer who lost 10 calves. “It’s getting in our pocketbooks,” he explained.

Lane said it may seem to some that the issue is intensifying; however, the industry is simply hearing more about it now because more cattle producers are affected as the birds’ range expands. While it seems like a new issue to Indiana, for example, southern states have dealt with it for years.

Bryan Kluever, supervisory research wildlife biologist with USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) Wildlife Services at the National Wildlife Research Center Florida Field Station, has been studying black vultures. He said long-term monitoring data suggest vulture expansion has been occurring since as early as 1990, and that populations also have likely increased in some areas where they have been long established.

“Black vultures have been regularly observed for several years and are clearly and contiguously established from Florida to Pennsylvania, and as far west as Missouri and Illinois,” he said. “Their range also extends into parts of Texas, Oklahoma, and Arizona.”

There’s no definitive reason for the black vulture population’s expansion, but he said it likely can be attributed to more than one factor. Those include changes in food availability, climate, and the behavior of the birds themselves.

Protected status

Frustrating to some producers is the fact that black vultures are protected under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918. That means it’s illegal to take, kill, or possess a black vulture in the United States, and violators may be punished with a fine up to $15,000 and up to six months imprisonment.

“That’s not the same as an endangered species,” explained Lane. “That doesn’t apply. In fact, the numbers are probably in the other direction. The Migratory Bird Treaty Act protects black vultures, like a lot of species, but it’s working too well.”

Migratory bird depredation permits, administered by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) Migratory Birds Program and enforced by its Office of Law Enforcement, may be purchased annually for $100 through any of eight regional offices. They’re good for one year, from April 1-March 31.

To qualify for a permit, though, a farmer must provide proof of vulture damage and await receipt of the permit, which will allocate the number of black vultures that may be taken.

“If a farmer sees vultures eating carrion, there’s no evidence the vulture killed it,” explained Jerome Ford, assistant director for migratory birds with FWS, adding that video of the vultures actually attacking a calf would provide solid proof. “It’s hard to get evidence.”

He said FWS has been working with people in the Southeast as best they can to get permits and has “boots on the ground” to help teach producers non-lethal means to disperse the birds.

“It’s too hard to get permits to control them when they get on your property, and you can’t get a permit to take enough black vultures to get ahead of it,” Lane said. In Tennessee, he said Farm Bureau is trying to help farmers get permission take more black vultures with their permits, to get the population under control.

“The National Cattlemen’s Beef Association is focused on policy,” he said. “Our state affiliates are engaged as well. That’s where we can use our relationships to make sure policymakers are informed.”

Ford said Congress is aware of farmers’ concerns, but making changes to the Migratory Bird Treaty Act that might allow killing the predators is problematic because the treaty is shared with several other countries. He said they all must be on board with any modifications, and the back-and-forth communication among the countries takes time.

Kluever said managing migratory birds, or nearly any species of wildlife, is challenging due to the wide range of value citizens place on wildlife. But he said amending the treaty is a possibility.

“Changes in how certain migratory bird species are managed are possible and have occurred by modifying regulations and policies pertaining to the Migratory Bird Treaty Act,” he said. “For example, species such as American crows and red-winged blackbirds can be lethally removed without a permit if birds are causing serious injuries to agricultural crops or to livestock, or if causing a health hazard or structural property damage.

“This is known as a depredation order. Depredation orders are rare, and an Environmental Impact Statement often needs to be written and analyzed before such an action can be considered or adopted.”

Lee Humberg has been state director of Indiana’s APHIS office for the past four years. During that time, the number of black vulture complaints has risen. “The most common concern is they have attacked livestock, primarily beef cattle,” he said.

But other complaints include damage to roofs, communication towers, and other perching sites. He said the birds’ weight can be a problem where they roost, as can their excrement, which is fairly corrosive and leads to premature wear and also kills vegetation.

“They seem to be fascinated by rubber,” Humberg added. The predators attack windshield wipers and other rubber parts on vehicles, and even boats. “They tend to be problematic at marinas.”

But despite the destruction, Lane and others haven’t heard of any producers taking matters into their own hands and exterminating any black vultures. “Too many people are scrutinizing,” Lane said.

The FWS has suggested non-lethal means of controlling black vultures producers find on their property. They suggest harassment, such as honking a horn, and other forms of negative reinforcement.

“A citizen does not need a permit to harass migratory birds as long as that harassment does not lead to ‘take’ as defined by the Migratory Bird Treaty Act and its governing regulations,” Kluever said. “Loud noises, such as bird bangers or firecrackers, have proven effective in scaring birds away from pastures.

“If birds are roosting on farms, the hanging of a fake vulture, known as an effigy, can displace birds from the roost site, which can cause the birds to move from the area.

“Adjusting husbandry methods in a manner that makes cattle easier to monitor can help farmers more quickly react to black vultures, but this is not always feasible. Two tools that show promise but remain mostly untested for black vultures is the use of livestock protection animals and unmanned aerial vehicles. USDA Wildlife Services can assist livestock producers with site-specific methods to alleviate or reduce vulture predation,” he added.

Identification

Black vultures are related to turkey vultures, but their appearance and feeding habits are different. The lanky turkey vulture teeters on air currents, long, brown wings outstretched with what looks from the underside like paler brown fingertips at the end of the wing. Turkey vultures have a long tail, and their featherless red head sports a long, hooked, pale grayish bill.

They’re 25-32 inches long, weigh about 4.5 pounds, and have a 67- to 70-inch wingspan. In flight, the turkey vulture seldom flaps its wings as it glides close to the ground sniffing for carrion, wings in a slight vee. Turkey vultures are more solitary than black vultures.

“Turkey vultures won’t kill livestock,” Humberg said. “They feed on carrion, an important ecological role to clean up the environment.”

The black vulture has uniform black plumage with white under the wingtips. It’s compact with broad wings and a short tail. Its featherless head is black with a short, narrow, strongly-hooked pale beak. Black vultures are typically 22-29 inches long, weigh 3.5-5 pounds, and have a 52- to 66-inch wingspan.

In flight, the black vulture takes deep, rapid, powerful wing beats, then it snaps its wings out and slightly forward to soar high on the thermals, above its cousins the turkey vultures. Black vultures are more social than turkey vultures and often feed and roost in flocks.

“North America is limited to two vulture species, the turkey and the black,” Kluever explained. “A striking difference between these two species is differences in their senses of smell and sight. Turkey vultures primarily rely on their sense of smell, also referred to as olfaction, to locate food. Black vultures, on the other hand, rely more on their sense of vision.

“Black vultures also engage in the behavior of following turkey vultures to their identified food sources and displacing them so they can take advantage of the food resource.”

Black vultures are predominantly scavengers but have been observed attacking newborn pigs, lambs, and calves, and eating eggs. They have also been observed preying on wildlife species such as night-herons, striped skunks, opossums, turtles, and small fish. They are extremely aggressive feeders.

What’s next

Vultures date back to prehistoric times, and based on archeological finds from the early to late Pleistocene Era, the birds of prey have changed little. Vulture drawings also have been seen in Mayan hieroglyphics. Given their long history and more recent protected status, the likelihood of them going anywhere seems slim. Plus, they do serve a useful purpose.

“Vultures are highly effective scavengers, and ecologically and economically important components of ecosystems,” Kluever said. “Studies have shown that in the absence of vultures, carcasses remain in the environment for three to 10 times longer.

“Longer-persisting carcasses can lead to opportunistic scavengers, like mammalian carnivores, to be in greater contact with each other at carcass sites. Such an increase in contact rates and carcass persistence may affect patterns of disease transmission among mammalian carnivores, nutrient cycling, and ecosystem functioning.

“It may also be important to note that the U.S. FWS Migratory Bird Program has a legal mandate and trust responsibility to conserve migratory bird populations for the enjoyment of the public in the United States,” he said.

Kluever reported that tools exist to help researchers gain a better understanding of why a species is distributed where it is and to predict new areas of expansion. They plan to leverage those tools to better understand black vulture range expansion.

“We at the USDA Wildlife Services’ National Wildlife Research Center are committed to finding solutions to challenging wildlife damage management problems like those that can be presented by black vultures,” Kluever said. “I encourage livestock producers, wildlife managers, and anyone else with a vested interest in this topic to reach out to me and my staff.”

He may be reached at 970-266-6000 or NWRC@usda.gov