Lately we’ve had a committee of buzzards sitting in the trees near our office in Southern Shores. This is a relatively new phenomenon. Our office has been in this Marketplace Shopping Center location for 20 years and I don’t ever recall seeing this many vultures haunting this locale. The Outer Banks is known for excellent bird sighting but I don’t think Outer Banks Vultures are on most birdwatchers’ lists of must see birds.
The allaboutbirds.org web site states that the Outer Banks is natural habitat for both Turkey Buzzards and Black Buzzards. The easiest way to tell the difference is that their heads are different colors. The Turkey Buzzard has a red head and the Black Buzzard has a black head.
Webster’s dictionary defines vultures as large birds with a naked head that subsist chiefly on carrion. They also list buzzards as large birds of prey. Whatever you want to call them, they are a little spooky to see perching in the dead limbs at the top of these trees. They are not here all the time but are here quite frequently. Perhaps when there’s roadkill nearby they vacate the premises.
The Halloween season is the season for scary movies and haunted houses. If you want to get spooked but don’t want to drive all the way here not to find these scary creatures skulking about, then call our office and we’ll let you know if these Outer Banks Vultures are here. Happy Halloween!
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