Every road-killed deer, every dead fish on the shore: something has to clean it up. In Florida that something is usually a vulture.
Gray-black head; white "stars" near the wingtips; short tail; flaps often. Finds food by sight, often by watching turkey vultures. Bold in groups; can attack newborn calves.
Red bare head (adults); silver flight feathers; wings in a V; rocks in the wind. Finds food by smell: it detects ethyl mercaptan from rotting meat under trees.
A vulture's stomach acid is strong enough to kill most bacteria in rotting meat, including anthrax and cholera germs. When vultures in India crashed by more than 95 percent in the 1990s and 2000s, poisoned by the cattle drug diclofenac, feral dogs multiplied and rabies cases rose.
A featherless head stays clean when it reaches inside a carcass and dries in the sun. Bare skin also helps shed heat.
Florida gets big winter roosts of both species, sometimes hundreds of birds on towers, dead trees and roofs. Vultures soar on rising warm air (thermals) and rarely fly early in the morning.
Both species are protected by the Migratory Bird Treaty Act (1918): it is illegal to kill them or disturb nests without a permit. Ranchers losing livestock to black vultures can get federal depredation permits from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, often through state farm bureau programs.
Vultures are nature's cleanup crew. They eat dead animals so germs do not spread. Their bald heads stay clean, and their tummies are strong enough to kill germs.
Drawer: Zoo: Vultures, the cleanup crew QR B3SADT
Quiz: Vultures quiz · 5 questions
Next door: Raptors · Natural history: bird room
Checked November 2026. Figures marked (est.) are estimates; statuses are flagged in the catalog for re-checking against the live IUCN Red List before acceptance.
