The Center for Conservation Biology (CCB) at the College of William and Mary
is working to understand relationships between areas where Black Vultures
roost and loaf. Roosting areas are the specific locations where vultures
spend the night and sleep. After leaving their roost in the morning and
before entering the roost at night, vultures often congregate at loafing
sites. In some situations, Black Vultures cause damage to personal
property. Certain damage appears to occur predominantly at loafing sites,
such as damage reported at Dutch Gap.
At CCB, we are working in cooperation with the Virginia Department of Game
and Inland Fisheries and the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Wildlife
Services, to learn about habits of Black Vultures and develop techniques to
minimize or prevent damage that they cause. We are currently seeking
information on the locations of both Black Vulture roosts and loafing areas.
This information will allow us to develop a better understanding of the
characteristics of loafing and roosting sites for the vultures, and any
relationship between these areas.
If you know of a loafing or roosting site for vultures, could you please
send this information to me (my contact information is listed below). I am
most interested in knowing the locations of loafing sites where the roost is
also known; however, locations of only loafing and only roosting sites will
be helpful as well.
Also, I would like to remind anyone that observes a Black Vulture that has
been tagged to report the tag either to me or to the Virginia Game and
Inland Fisheries website (preferred).
http://www.dgif.virginia.gov/wildlife/dutch-gap-black-vulture-management/
We placed orange tags with 3 digit numbers on the wings of 100 vultures. A
few vultures were also tagged a couple of years ago with white (now
appearing yellow) tags with 3 letters. Observations of these tagged
vultures has provided valuable information on the movements of vultures in
Virginia.
Thank you again for your help!
Adam
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Adam E. Duerr, Ph.D.
The Center for Conservation Biology
College of William & Mary
757.221.7741
aduerr@xxxxxx
