MOVEMENTS OF BLACK VULTURES BETWEEN COMMUNAL ROOSTS IN FLORIDA

Abstract

Communal roosts are important resources for local populations of the Black Vulture (Coragyps atratus), but these roosts are increasingly becoming the focus for complaints of wildlife damage. We studied movements of Black Vultures between communal roosts in Florida using mark-resight methods. We marked 416 Black Vultures with patagial tags at two communal roosts in Orange County, Florida. A total of 1,245 resightings of 226 individuals were recorded over a 3-year period. Black Vultures made one-way movements between communal roosts of up to 152 km, and two-way movements (i.e., birds left a site and subsequently returned) between communal roosts of up to 144 km. Patterns of resightings indicated that some Black Vultures use several roosts over wide geographic ranges during parts of their lives. Long distance exchanges between roosts and high nightly turnover of membership at roosts leads to concerns that control of nuisance Black Vulture roosts has the potential to impact nontarget populations in a geographic area well beyond a given communal roost.