birdsoup

Last Sunday’s New York Times Magazine, contained a small story on the strange habit of young nestling Eurasian Roller Birds – they vomit on themselves when they sense danger. Ick! The smell of the vomit deters the predator. So it helps protect the young bird. It also helps protect their parents. The parents can’t stand the smell of vomit either, so they stay away from the area for a short period of time. This prevents them from flying into the area with a potential predator.

Turkey Vultures are also known to vomit. Some reports claim that they “projectile vomit” at approaching predators but scientist doubt that.
But they do indeed vomit when stressed. This behavior may well have evolved as a means for vultures, gorging on a carcass, to quickly lose some weight when predators approach and the vulture has eaten too much to fly. (You can imagine how vultures will want to eat as much as possible, given the unpredictable nature of their food source, while still maintaining flight capabilities.) When turkey vultures vomit they simply cough up a lump of meat that may be fresh (if the vulture just fed) or semi-digested and foul-smelling. Some believe this regurgitation may “gross out” would-be predators, but this may be an explanation based on human sensibilities. More often than not, the regurgitated food may in fact be eaten by the predator, which takes the free meal rather than continuing to pursue the vulture.

Turkey Vulture Urinates on its Legs

A turkey vulture often directs its urine right onto its legs. This process, known as urohydrosis, serves two very important purposes. On warm days, wetting the legs cools the vulture as the urine evaporates. (The vulture cannot sweat like us). In addition, this urine contains strong acids from the vulture’s digestive system, which may kill any bacteria that remain on the bird’s legs from stepping in its meal.

Just as people can learn to change their undesirable habits, Turkey Vultures (TVs) with a couple of simple changes could develop better social skills. First, if they changed the color of their feathers from black to white (black absorbs heat) they would not get so warm. And maybe they could use sun screen on their bald heads to prevent sunburn.