A couple days ago I made a quick trip to the Jordan Lake Dam to see what was flying around over the river.
There wasn’t much going on there that morning but there was a flock of Black Vultures hanging out along the shore soaking up the rays of the rising sun.
While many would say these aren’t the prettiest birds I think they’re actually kinda cute lol!
It was neat to watch the young ones snuggling together and walking around on the ground like big dopey chickens.

Black Vultures are a year round resident of North Carolina and may be found soaring above all 100 of our counties.
They are easily ID’d apart from Turkey Vultures by their dark grey heads vs. the pink color of the Turkey’s.
When watching them fly, Black Vultures also have white patches showing on the underside of their wings whereas Turkey Vultures wings are a solid black color.

I mentioned the ID comparisons because Black Vultures are often seen hanging out with Turkey Vultures. Both species are scavengers and often take to skies together in search of a meal.
Interestingly, Black Vultures do not have a sense of smell so they rely on the Turkey Vultures keen sense of sniffing out a carcass in order to find food.
Often the Black Vultures will fly higher then the Turkey Vultures in oder to see what the Turkey’s find below.
Once the Turkey Vultures find a food source on the ground, the Black Vultures will swoop down to eat whatever they can snatch away from the Turkey Vultures plate.
Crazy huh?!

Photos by @sally_siko of @birdwatching_nc on the full frame mirrorless beast, the mighty @canonusa #R5