In the United States, when someone refers to a buzzard, they are, in reality, usually talking about a turkey vulture, a member of the New World vultures. Arizona has very few buzzards, and lots of turkey vultures.
Elsewhere in the world, a buzzard is in the same family as Old World vultures; classified “accipitridae – in the Buteo genus. In North America, the Buteo genus refers to hawks (aka raptors).
In the United States generally and Arizona in particular:
Buzzards are Raptors (genus buteo), a kind of hawk. Buzzards hunt and kill prey. Of necessity, they have strong feet for grasping live prey. While their eyesight is excellent, their sense of smell is poor. In addition to live prey, buzzards will eat carrion.
Turkey Vultures (Arizona) do not (usually) hunt and kill prey. They have weak feet because they don’t use them for grasping live prey. They dine almost exclusively on carrion (aka dead animals). Turkey vultures have a keen sense of smell. In Arizona, they are often erroneously called a buzzard. Vulture classification includes condors.
Black Vulture are regularly found only in Arizona. However, they are occasionally sighted in New Mexico and California.
Black vultures are rare in Arizona. If they are sighted at all, they are most likely in the area along the International Border from Patagonia to Organ Pipe National Monument; and sometimes as far north as the confluence of the Santa Cruz and Gila Rivers north of Tucson, but south of Phoenix.
Condors are vultures. With nearly 10-foot wingspans, California condors are the largest flying bird in North America. The Andean condors are even bigger. In prehistoric times, condors were numerous throughout the territory that would become the United States. They dined on big animal carcasses. “Big” meaning huge mammoths larger than African elephants, 6000 pound sloths; ancient (now extinct) bison twice the size of our American buffaloes. Mostly due to the activity of humans, by 1982, only 22 condors survived in North America, all in California.
Placed on the Endangered Species List in 1967, captive breeding programs have resulted in some success. In 2011, some 70 California condors were flying free over the Vermillion Cliffs of Central Arizona between Lake Powell and the Grand Canyon. Within the Vermillion Cliffs National Monument, elevations range from 3,100 to 7,100 feet.
CLICK HERE for more information about condor captive breeding programs.
