Vulture Effigy 'Seems to Have Worked'

Hanging from a tree in the middle of the Martinsville neighborhood, midway between the branches and the ground, is a dead vulture, a warning to any flying around that they should disperse.

About a month after the vulture effigy was hung in a tree on the corner of Perrine and Eastbrook roads, one resident says that he thinks the effort was worth it.

“Since they hung the vulture, I have only seen one in the neighborhood,” said Davis Court resident Tom Friar. “I have not talked with the neighbors on what they think of how it looks, only that we do not see the vultures at all, and we hope they do not come back.”

Friar once counted up to 130 vultures perched on houses and trees in the neighborhood.

Nicole Rein, a wildlife biologist with the United States Department of Agriculture, hung the vulture carcass, or effigy, in early March.

“It acts as a visual deterrent,” she said. “It’s hung by fishing line high up in the tree so it’s visible to birds as they are flying in.”

Rein has said the carcass is hung at an unnatural position, usually upside down by its feet.

“When the vultures see it, it acts as a warning to them so they don’t want to use the area,” she said. “They feel uncomfortable.”

Unless you are in the backyard of the house with the tree where the vulture is hung, or are the neighbor on either side of that home, Friar said, it is hard to notice the effigy unless you are already aware of where it is.

“It is up to the homeowner to decide if or when to take it down,” he said.

Friar said the vultures usually turn out between November and April, so by this point they would normally have dispersed on their own. But, he said, he did not see more than one at a time once the effigy was hung.

“During the spring and summer months, the vultures disperse on their own normally, so in my opinion, I think it worked, but I will hold judgment completely until the fall,” he said. “Again, we will have to judge the success in the fall to see if the vultures come back.”