I was walking down a street in Vidalia in South Georgia the other day when I turned a corner and almost bumped into a middle-aged man standing there. He was looking up, taking pictures with his cellphone of something in the sky.

So, I looked up, and saw an amazing sight — one of the largest kettles of vultures I’ve ever seen. There were hundreds of them, black vultures and turkey vultures (Georgia’s two vulture species), wheeling, soaring and gliding overhead. The silver gray flight feathers of the turkey vultures glistened in the afternoon sun, an impressive sight.

ā€œQuite a kettle, huh?ā€ the man asked.

I agreed. Then he told me that one street over, I could also see a ā€œcommitteeā€ of vultures. What? I asked. He explained that a large flock of vultures spiraling upward in flight on thermal updrafts is called a kettle because it resembles a pot of boiling water. A ā€œcommitteeā€ of vultures refers to the birds resting on the ground, in trees or on structures. ā€œWakeā€ is reserved for a group of vultures that is feeding.

I walked over to the next street and, sure enough, there was a huge ā€œcommitteeā€ of vultures perched on a tall communication tower in the midst of downtown Vidalia.

The kettle obviously was migrating vultures from up North flying south to join year-round resident vultures in Georgia, Florida and other locales for the winter.

A prime destination in Georgia for migratory vultures is Reed Bingham State Park near Adel in southwest Georgia. Home to a few hundred year-round resident vultures, its vulture population soars into the thousands when the birds from up North arrive. A park worker told me earlier this week that migrating vultures are indeed arriving there now.

Vultures perform immense benefits by removing carrion from the landscape, but they also can be a nuisance — such as when they tear away window caulking or remove rubber seals and rip up windshield wipers from vehicles.

IN THE SKY: From David Dundee, Tellus Science Museum astronomer: The moon will be first quarter on Sunday. Mercury is low in the east just before sunrise. Venus is low in the east and rises about an hour before sunrise. Mars rises in the east just before dark and will appear near the moon Wednesday night. Jupiter and Saturn are low in the southwest after dark.

About the Author

Keep Reading

Sure it's only mid-July, but Escape the Netherworld is hosting five themed escape rooms, including one called Haunted that challenges players to defeat the Night Hag. (Courtesy of Escape the Netherworld)

Credit: Courtesy of Escape the Netherworld

Featured

ā€œOur members cannot be bought off,ā€ General President Sean O’Brien said in a social media statement, calling UPS' offers ā€œillegal and haphazard.ā€ (Hyosub Shin/AJC 2023)

Credit: Hyosub Shin/AJC