The 2022 Audubon Christmas Bird Count came early for me when I came home on December 24 and found one wounded juvenile vulture… sitting in my front yard. It was below zero for a third straight day and the wind stung my face as we eyed each other. I could see by the feathers on its dark neck and head it was young. That much I knew. It obviously couldn’t fly and the coming night would be brutal. The thought made me shudder. I took a step closer and then another, looking for signs of injury. I was too close now – the huddled bird made a sudden awkward flounce away from me, then, amazingly, made its own rescue possible. Shoulders hunched, one wing slightly askew, it headed, not to the side yard but towards the patio, with me trailing behind. When it reached the corner of the house by the door to my studio, it hunkered down and hid its head. I opened the door and said in my best ET-phone-home voice “It’s okay, it’s okay… would you like to come in?” And it hopped through the door and scurried into a corner.
I spent the rest of Christmas Eve online, reading about vultures, trying to figure out what to call it – Black vulture? Turkey vulture? Turkey buzzard? How about Buzzley! – and texting every bird-friendly pal I could think of, trying to find out what to do next.
Would it eat? In lieu of raw meat, I scrambled an egg then checked in on my studio houseguest. Buzzley was now perched on a picture frame, hunched over, keeping a bright wary eye on me. When I got close enough to put food and water on the table beside it, Buzzley flapped off the frame and hid in a corner. When I looked in later, the plate was clean and Buzzley was back on its perch. I breathed a sigh of relief and took my first photo.
That evening a neighbor came up on his four-wheeler with a king size can of cat food that was also well received. But my hunt for a nearby wildlife sanctuary was running into dead ends until I clicked on the link to Avian Conservancy Center of Appalachia on Fairchance Road near Morgantown, WV. Close enough! I called the number on the webpage, left a message and went to bed, hopeful but still wondering. Thoughts of euthanasia were hard to dispel. I did not dream of sugar plums but I did finally get to sleep.
The cheerful voice of veterinarian Jesse Fallon, returning my call at 8 a.m. on Christmas morning would be the best present I unwrapped that day.
“Yes, bring your baby vulture down. We’re open 24/7. We rehabilitate the ones that can be released and find sanctuaries for the others. I’ll take a look and let you know what we can do.”
Buzzley hid in a corner one last time – long enough to get wrapped in a towel and tucked into a dog carrier.
At Cheat Lake Animal Hospital, Dr. Fallon took Buzzley out of the cage with experienced hands then stretched open one wing to show the lighter feathers that indicate this is a turkey vulture, still too young to have developed the classic naked red head of an adult bird. “You can see the color is just starting to come in around the beak.”
It was exciting to finally see this amazing bird up close and hissing – vultures have no vocal cords – as Dr. Fallon held him up and I took photos for this story and our eyes met one last time.
The next day Dr. Fallon’s wife and ACCA executive director Katie Fallon emailed to say the wing fracture had already healed and “we will have to find him a home at another nature center, zoo or sanctuary somewhere. Since he’s young, he will probably adapt to life under human care very well. I’m happy to answer any turkey vulture questions – they are my favorite species! Thanks again for rescuing the little vulture – and Happy New Year!”
My friend Marge Howard was disappointed that Buzzley wasn’t the rare black vulture I thought it might be when I called asking for advice that first hectic day. But she was happy to add “one turkey vulture, seen on count week” to the tally she would compile on December 28 for the Ryerson Christmas Bird Count, a 15-mile circle with Bristoria as the center point. Could I ride along? Marge could use someone to count as she spotted in the afternoon. Great!
We met up in Rogersville at 1 p.m. and headed up Lightner Run Road.
On Hopewell Ridge I was able to get enough signal to add Cornell Lab’s Merlin App to my iPhone after seeing Marge stick her phone out the window to identify birds by their songs. I suddenly felt more part of this world of stop, watch and listen, having this kind of science at my fingertips to help me learn. Opening the app to “Life List” I added turkey vulture for my first entry and grinned.
“Red tail,” Marge said from the drivers seat and I made another hash mark on the count form. The waterways were still frozen from the recent arctic weather and wild ducks were scarce. But there were plenty of red tail hawks out today including two white ones.
“Leucistic,” Larry Helgerman tells me on the phone a few weeks later. Leucism is genetic mutation that inhibits melanin and other pigments from being deposited in feathers, hair or skin. “I’ve seen white robins and cardinals, even a white squirrel.”
There’s a lot to learn about birds and birding when talking to Larry. As West Virginia State Editor for Audubon he has access to all the data on winter bird counts back to the first count of 1899-1900. Each year’s count day is from midnight to midnight and can happen any day between December 14 and January 5. This oldest bird count in the world has grown over 123 years to include the Arctic Circle south to Central America and the Caribbean and the northern parts of South America. Larry was out until dark on December 28 counting the northwest corner of the Ryerson Circle where it overlaps into Washington County and West Virginia, one of the five counts he participates in that includes Pennsylvania.
When was the first eagle spotted on a Greene County count? Larry looks it up. Clarksville Circle, 2009, Ryerson 2017. When DDT was banned in 1972, America’s signature bird began making a comeback. Cleaner waterways for fishing have been a big help but eagles will eat anything, Larry notes. “They’re opportunists. I’ve seen them feeding on deer carcasses along the road. That’s how they end up getting hit by vehicles.”
Were there any winter bird trends that stand out? “In this neck of the woods, the cardinals did great this year, they had many broods,” Larry tells me. “If the common birds are doing okay, things are good. On average we see 64-65 species and half can be found in your own back yard. What we need more of are people to count them.”
Audubon’s Backyard Bird Count begins February 17 and ends February 20. Billed as a global event “when the world comes together for the love of birds,” Audubon recommends that beginning birders download the Merlin app that will tell them what birds they are seeing or hearing. All information to participate is online at birdcount.org.
For more information about educational programs ACCA offers to scouts, schools and events or to donate or volunteer: www.accawv.org, www.facebook.com/ACAWV/ Instagram @accawv. To report an injured bird call 304-906-5438.
