Plate 151 – Turkey Buzzard

In the summer of 1833, John James Audubon explored the upper Atlantic coast of North America and encountered large numbers of American pipits (Plate 10). Audubon also saw the American pipit in large numbers in such places as the streets of Charleston, South Carolina. It was the job of Turkey buzzards (now called the Turkey vulture) and Black vultures (Plate 106) to clean up the “castings of filth” created by the butchers in the meat markets of Charleston. The American pipit would be “in company with the Turkey Buzzards and Carrion Crows [i.e., present-day Black vulture], and when disturbed, will alight on the roof of the nearest building, on stakes or fences, as well as walls, and occasionally on the branches of trees.” An indication that the streets of Charleston are filled with at least less “castings of filth” is that it is almost impossible to see or hear an American pipit.