Good Samaritan charter fishermen and Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission officers saved the lives of over 20 turkey vultures and one broad-winged hawk Tuesday.
According to Fish and Wildlife's Sue Schaf, a call came in from the Marathon Wild Bird Rescue that the Twin Tails commercial fishing boat out of Conch Key had spotted "40 to 50 buzzards" in the water roughly 10 miles north of Marathon in the Florida Bay.
The fishermen scooped what birds they could out of the water, while Schaf and Officer Jason Richards rushed out to the scene. Schaf said she and Richards found eight live vultures and took the rest off the Twin Tails as it was not returning to shore.
"They were so water-soaked. When they saw the boat coming they were trying to swim over to it so I was able to just reach over and grab them," she said.
At least half the birds died, likely on impact according to Marathon Wild Bird Rescue Director Kelly Grinter.
"More than likely what they experienced yesterday was a wind shear or a micro blast. Both of them are conditions favorable for warm thermals to meet cold air and it's a funnel of air when these temps come together and they get pushed down to the ground," she said.
Grinter said the vultures glide along these thermals along the shoreline looking mostly for road kill to eat.
"They don't have to eat a super lot of food because they're just gliding around," she said.
The rescue made for an interesting ride into the 33rd Street boat ramp in Marathon for Schaf and Richards. Their boat was littered with ill-tempered turkey vultures.
"They sat with their wings open to dry out. As we got closer to land they saw it and tried to fly off. It was hard to keep 21 birds on a boat," Schaf said.
Some flew alongside the boat and landed back on it from time to time. Another rode in the whole trip on top of the engine. Several dried out some and thought they were good to take off, only to land back in the water again.
"We ended up turning around six or seven times on the way in," Schaf said.
Not to mention all the hissing-type noises Richards said the birds made at he and Schaf most of the trip.
"They made a mess of the boat. They weren't too happy about being on the boat, but I think they liked it better than being in the water," he said.
Grinter said several of the birds were let go at the ramp, the rest were taken to the rescue. She said three died there, but the rest will be released shortly. The hawk is being kept for two weeks as a precautionary measure.
Hawk
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