How to Get Rid of Turkey Vultures
Turkey vultures are accused often for carrying deadly diseases such as hog cholera and anthrax, which is why people want to learn ways of getting rid of them when finding that these vultures make their yard their home too. Farmers want to learn methods of preventing them from building nest upon their farm because they fear these birds will kill their livestock for food, but this is a myth. In fact, turkey vultures will never kill anything for food and this is because they live and thrive off dead corpses of animals, insects, and other decaying matter.
Why do turkey vultures have such a bad-rap?
The get the bad-rap for attacking livestock because it is common for these creatures to nest and hang among black vultures, which do carry disease and do kill small livestock animals and wild animals for food. Turkey vultures will then feed off anything remaining from the killing that is not consumed by the black vultures. While feeding off the killings of the black vultures many people believe that the turkey vultures can contract deadly diseases from the dead animals and pass it along to other animals and humans.
Is it possible for turkey vultures to pass along livestock diseases?
No, turkey vultures have enzymes in their digestive system that destroy almost all kinds of livestock diseases and for this reason alone these birds are essential too the eco-system. Without the birds, livestock diseases would spread rapidly throughout the world because there would not be creatures to consume the decomposing harmful matter that comes from diseased livestock. If you find turkey vultures making your yard your home, consider yourself lucky. It means you will not have to pick up any potentially dangerous decaying animal matter from your yard that could potentially make you sick. With that said though, what are destructive from these birds are their droppings.
Why are turkey vulture droppings destructive?
Turkey vulture droppings are destructive because they contain matter in them that can actually kill off vegetation and kill trees, which is a good reason for farmers growing crops and gardeners to want to get rid of them from their yard. Otherwise, turkey vultures are no real threat to humans or any other animal or creatures living amongst this earth. In fact, we should be helping these birds stay alive and thriving since it is on the endangered species list.
So what exactly is a turkey vulture?
If you have not already learned from reading this bit of information, the turkey vulture is a bird that lives in all areas of the world in all kinds of climates. You can find them in subtropical rainforest, shrub lands, pastures, deserts and even swamplands. The large roosting birds that love hanging amongst each other in tall trees or nest inside of caves has a keen sense of smell and sight, and has the ability to use thermals to help move through the air with ease. When the birds communicate with each other they tend to hiss and make grunting noses since these vultures lack a vocal organ. Their distinct characteristics are their brown grayish feathers along their body and long black wings with a white beak. Their wingspan is about seventy inches in length and can weigh about five pounds. These birds have long talons, but they are surprisingly not designed for hunting and grasping animals or anything else for that matter.
What are some of the methods found useful for getting rid of turkey vultures?
There are a handful of methods for getting rid of turkey vultures, but hunting and killing them are not options since they are on the protection list since they are endangered species. Some of the methods you can use if you do want to get rid of turkey vultures in your yard for various reasons are:
- Hanging shining reflecting objects among the trees since this spooks the birds away harmlessly
- Installing a motion sensor sprinkler system into your lawn, gardens and crop areas can help deter the birds away
- Making tons of loud noises in the areas you are trying to rid them from using fireworks, banging noises, yelling and blowing horns is useful since this will frighten them away
- Install motion sensor lights into your yard that will turn on and spook the birds when they try landing
- Have Fish and Game come out to remove any nest from the area you want them remove from safely
- You can trap the vultures with bird traps and take them too a new location
- The old method of placing a scarecrow in the yard has been known to be useful
- Eliminate dead trees and bushes from your yard since turkey vultures love hanging out in them
- You can try using a bird zap shock tracking system
- Install birds spikes around the area you do not want them hanging near
Turkey Vultures Have Legal Protection
Remember, turkey vultures destroy livestock diseases in their digestive tract so they cannot spread diseases to you or any other creature. Turkey vultures are not birds that kill living animals or humans for that matter. These birds are important to the eco-system. This is because they do more good than harm. Therefore, leaving them alone when you can should be of importance since they are on the endangered species list.
With that said, if you must use a method to get rid of the birds from your yard try some harmless ones first. Keep in mind these birds are protected by the federal migratory bird protect act so causing harm to them can get you a fine or even jail time. If you really find these birds a nuisance to your yard, farm or gardening area call wildlife control to come help you safely, deal with the situation properly. After all, the only way to live with all the creatures and living creations of this planet is with respect.