This will increase your chances of keeping vultures out of the area for an extended period of time. You can’t go grab a gun and create your own effigy. Hang a realistic vulture effigy from the roof or a nearby tree. Johnson County farmer Tyler Ferguson hung a black vulture effigy on an old basketball goal post. Simply hang it by a rope from somewhere that it is clearly visible from a distance (i.e., a tree branch). Use the Dead Vulture effigy as a Halloween decoration, movie prop or to help keep wildlife away! See references. Droppings of turkey and black vultures create nuisance John S. Humphrey, Eric, A. Tillman, Michael L. Avery . They don’t like it for some reason, we don’t understand why. Property damage, especially from black vultures, includes tearing and removing window caulking, screen enclosures, roof shingles, vinyl seat covers from boats and tractors, windshield wipers and door seals on cars, and plastic flowers at cemeteries (Figure 3). The effigy is inexpensive and easy to make with materials costing under $30 and taking about two hours to complete. Hanging an effigy of a black vulture near places black vultures roost is one way to keep vultures off your farm. Both vultures have all-black feathers. Ball, Steven A., "Suspending vulture effigies from roosts to reduce bird strikes" (2009). The black vulture (Coragyps atratus), also known as the American black vulture, is a bird in the New World vulture family whose range extends from the southeastern United States to Central Chile and Uruguay in South America. If you have a flat roof, you can hang the effigy from a tripod sitting directly on the roof. A group of black vultures. But it’s a very effective tool, and it works for both black vultures and for turkey vultures." Materials Needed for 1 Vulture Effigy: If you obtain a damage permit and take a vulture, immediately use that vulture as an effigy in the area you would like to protect. Below are directions to create a black vulture effigy. The vulture's can be positioned upside down to simulate being dead or agony. The use of the term is normally restricted to certain contexts in a somewhat arbitrary way: recumbent effigies on tombs are so called, but standing statues of individuals, or busts, are usually not. USDA-APHIS-Wildlife Services-National Wildlife Research Center, Florida Field Station, 2820 East University Avenue, Gainesville, FL 32641. Human–Wildlife Interactions. The turkey vulture is larger than the black vulture, measuring 26 to 32 inches long with a wingspan of five and half to six feet, while the black vulture measures up to 25 inches long with a wingspan of four and half to five feet. 18. https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/hwi/18 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Wildlife Damage Management, Internet Center for at DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln. The vulture Scare Decoy is covered in real feathers and its feet are designed with wires for attaching to branches or bookshelves. Vultures are protected under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, so you’ll … "There is an interesting method by using an effigy, which is a black vulture carcass, especially a black vulture that was in that group. WHAT IS AN EFFIGY? An effigy is a dead or fake dead animal that is hung in an area to deter that specific species from congregating. Guidelines For Using Effigies to Disperse Nuisance Vulture Roosts. An effigy is a representation of a specific person in the form of sculpture or some other three-dimensional medium. When displayed properly, effigies are extremely effective at deterring black vultures from using an area. The idea is if black vultures see the effigy of the bird hanging upside down from a high post or tree, they will assume it’s an actual dead bird and stay away from the area.