Smith: Turkey vulture nest in Mequon silo highlights species' adaptability

MEQUON - As I climbed the stairs inside the 125-year-old silo, it was clear I wasn't alone.

Occupants in the vertical structure heard my footfalls and sounded their alarms.

The first I encountered was a chimney swift. The bird clung to the concrete wall near its nest and snapped its wings together: "clack, clack, clack!"

I gave a wide berth and the swift settled back near its just-hatched young.

Another 20 feet higher a chorus had broken out.

This one was also fair warning.

"Hiss, hiss!"

The 50-foot-tall tube originally made to store grain was now showcasing its acoustics.

The hissing reverberated so loudly I thought it had to be man-made. Was there a leak in a high-pressure air line?

Or was it ghosts from the old farmstead?

I peeked through dangling roots and wooden beams toward the source of the sound.

Standing 7 feet away were two football-sized creatures covered in white down. They sported black faces, beaks, legs and feet.

They struck me as living versions of the Muppet character "Gonzo" sans clothing.

They looked at me, cracked their beaks and with seemingly no effort made a "go away" call powerful enough to rival Pavarotti.

They were turkey vulture chicks.

Message received. And identification confirmed.

I quickly took a few photos and a video and backed down the stairs and out of the silo.

Kathy Hudson, owner of the Mequon property, was waiting outside. I had come here on her invitation to try to find out what might be inhabiting her silo.

A few days earlier a worker who entered the structure had been repelled by the frightful sound. Hudson, knowing my interest in wildlife, thought I might like to have a look.

I showed her the video on my phone and still images on my camera.

"Well that makes sense," said Hudson, who had seen a large, dark-colored raptor roosting near the silo in recent days. "I'm thrilled, really."

Turkey vultures were once relatively rare in Wisconsin but over the last 50 years have become common, according to birding experts.

"(Turkey vultures) are readily seen now throughout the state," said Mike Mossman, a retired Department of Natural Resources biologist. "I would say they are one of the most common, if not the most common, raptor you will see."

Mossman and his wife Lisa Hartman, also a retired DNR biologist, studied Wisconsin turkey vultures extensively, with a focus on birds in the Baraboo Hills. Their work included putting colored, numbered tags on the birds' wings to help document movements, nesting behavior and preferred habitats.

Turkey vultures are fairly easy to identify in flight. They are very large, with 6-foot wingspans, and have small heads. They fly with their wings in a V-shape, or dihedral, according to the Peterson Guide to Birds of North America.

They often rock and tilt side-to-side in flight. And if seen at close range, they have an evident bald head (red in adults, gray in juveniles).

Turkey vultures are scavengers and eat carrion. In Wisconsin that often means animals dead along roadways.

They have among the most advanced sense of smell of any bird species and can detect a dead animal more than a mile away, according to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology.

The turkey vultures we see in Wisconsin are migratory. They spend the winter to the south, sometimes as documented in at least one bird tagged in work by Hartman and Mossman, in South America.

In late winter or early spring they fly north to breed.

When it comes to nesting, turkey vultures don't construct a nest such as bald eagles. Instead they find a flat, safe area to lay their eggs. Natural nest sites include an old stump, rock ledge or cave.

But they also have been known to nest on deer blinds and office buildings in Wisconsin, Mossman said.

So it didn't surprise him to hear about the nest on Hudson's silo. The surrounding area is dominated by subdivisions.

"They are showing themselves to be adaptable and doing well in and around humans," Mossman said. "It's part of their success story."

Turkey vultures typically lay two eggs. The young fledge in about eight weeks, Mossman said, and will then typically stay in the area near their nest.

In late summer or fall the juvenile turkey vultures will join a communal flock to migrate south.

With regard to the hissing, Mossman said that is also normal.

"It's all bluff," Mossman said. "They have beaks but they are scavengers and they really aren't designed to attack anything."

The young vultures in Hudson's silo stayed in place, balanced on their two black legs, and warily eyed me.

The only thing that moved was their beaks.

Mossman said the adults return to the nest to regurgitate food for the young, then fly out.

If all goes well for the turkey vultures this nesting season, there is a good chance they will be back next year. Mossman said the species shows "nest site fidelity" and often reuses a successful location.

Kathy Hudson and her husband, Bob, purchased their Mequon property in 1994. It includes a main house, barn, workshop and silo.

The barn and silo were built about 1900, Kathy said.

The old farmstead is close to the Milwaukee River and features a lot of wildlife. But this is the first time turkey vultures have nested anywhere on the 2-acre property, Hudson said.

"They are welcome here," she said. "Now I'll be watching to see if the young ones fly out one of these days."

Applications sought for Sandhill deer hunt

The DNR is accepting applications through Sept. 20 for a special firearm deer hunt at Sandhill Wildlife Area near Necedah. The managed hunt will be held Nov. 2 and 3 on the 9,150-acre property. It will be open to licensed hunters and restricted to firearms (rifle/shotgun). Hunters will be issued an either-sex permit and an antlerless-only permit valid for Sandhill Wildlife Area.

To apply visit the Sandhill Outdoor Skills Center webpage. Additional information is available on the DNR website or by contacting Sandhill wildlife biologist, Darren Ladwig at (715) 498-2338 or [email protected].

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Turkey vulture nest in Mequon silo highlights species' adaptability