Riel Roussopoulos
Vulture spotted at New Dorp shopping center. Latest in wild S.I. sightings – SILive.com
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y.— Another wildlife sighting on Staten Island came in the form of one of nature’s least lovable creatures — the vulture.
A man at the Tysens Park Shopping Center in New Dorp this week happened upon what appeared to be a turkey vulture, a large bird that typically feeds on roadkill and garbage.
“I was kind of blown away,” the man told the Advance/SILive.com “He was flying around the parking lot early in the morning.”
Experts say turkey vultures typically have a wing span of about six feet. (Submitted)
The birds can measure more than 2-feet tall with a near 6-foot wingspan, typically feeding on roadkill and garbage that’s regurgitated for their young, according to conservenature.org.
Their heads are featherless to protect them from the harmful bacteria, and the feeding habits result in foul odors emanating from a nesting area.
The birds are found year-round in most of the country’s southern states and along the Eastern seaboard. They don’t lay eggs in a nest, but instead opt for snags of dead trees or in the cavity of a tree high above the ground, making it difficult for predators to reach their young.
Turkey Vultures are hairless on their heads to protect from harmful bacteria in the roadkill and garbage they consumer. (Submitted)
On Monday, a dead bear was spotted outside a shopping plaza in New Springville.
The state Department of Environmental Conservation was investigating what appeared to be a situation in which the carcass was discarded by someone, while one resident claims she spotted the dead animal in a resident’s yard prior to it being dumped.
Published at Wed, 16 Jun 2021 20:51:10 +0000
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