It’s time to look back on 2024! Check our blog between Christmas and New Year’s for a variety of stories and memories of 2024 from the staff and volunteers of the Wildlife Center of Virginia.
As the year comes to a close, I find myself reflecting on the journey of two black vulture hatchlings—#24-1266 and #24-1866—that came into our care over the summer. From the very beginning, we knew their rehabilitation would be challenging. They arrived so small and vulnerable (at different times), barely old enough to open their eyes and covered in soft, fluffy down. As one of their primary caregivers, I had the delicate task of hand-rearing them, balancing their need for warmth, nourishment, and socialization, while doing everything I could to avoid habituation.
For them to thrive and eventually be released into the wild, we had to create an environment that promoted natural behaviors and minimized their exposure to human presence. This became my top priority, and I quickly began designing an outdoor enclosure, or “playpen,” with the help of our maintenance technician, Mathew. The pen became their world, offering enough space to exercise, hunt, and explore.
One of the challenges we faced was ensuring the vultures didn’t eat pebbles or gravel, a common behavior in young vultures as they develop in captivity. We carefully monitored their diet and provided food in ways that encouraged their natural foraging instincts. They even enjoyed a “deer carcass” made out of cardboard and PVC tubes to encourage scavenging.
The pen was divided by a safety gate to limit their access to certain areas and prevent them from ingesting non-food items. Imagine my shock one day when I opened the gate and found one of them staring at me just a few feet away! He had managed to jump over the baby gate and started exploring the rest of the enclosure. I was both thrilled and horrified—had he eaten rocks or gotten injured from the jump? Fortunately, he hadn’t! After a few days of consistently jumping the gate and perching on their canopy branches, it was clear they were ready for the next step in their development.
As the months passed, they moved into one of our largest flight pens. Slowly, their down feathers were replaced with the dark, glossy plumage of adulthood. I remember the first time I saw their wings fully extend—what an exhilarating moment! Their flight practice in the pen was a bit clumsy and short of graceful, as sometimes they preferred to run on the ground. I obsessively watched them on the cameras and eagerly awaited the feet and feather reports from our vets every other Monday. The reports were always positive—they were perfect in every way!
Unfortunately, vulture #24-1266 began to show slight signs of habituation, though it wasn't a surprise given that he had spent two weeks alone when first admitted. We developed a plan to address the mild habituation signs, including hazing tactics to disassociate food with human presence. The other vulture, #24-1866, exhibited more typical behavior.
The day of their release finally arrived in mid-October, when it was decided that both vultures were ready to be released! Although I wasn’t able to attend their release, I was gifted with beautiful videos of them soaring into the sky. Fully matured, with their first adult plumage, they took flight and soared higher and higher, gaining the confidence they needed to navigate the wild world they were born for.
That moment was a powerful reminder of the importance of our work—how each animal we care for and rehabilitate has the potential to return to the wild and contribute to its delicate balance. It was an unforgettable end to a year of growth, patience, and an unwavering commitment to providing the best care for these incredible creatures.
— Alex Olvera, Rehabilitation Supervisor