Who ever thought I would fall head over heels in love with a turkey vulture? I always found vultures interesting and was thankful for the ways in which vultures are helpful to mankind but if you had asked me for a list of my favorite birds, vultures would not have come to mind. Suli, however, has won me over and stolen my heart. I had always enjoyed seeing vultures gliding overhead but now it is an extra thrill to see them. Suli is such a character! Miss personality plus! To know her is to love her. I often call her, “Sweet Suli.”
Sweet Suli, wasn’t (and isn’t) always “Sweet” Suli. At one time she was “snotty pants Suli,” or “Suli the terror,” harrassing me, pulling on my pants roughly, and biting on my hands. Suli is worried and suspicious of anyone that she is not familiar with. She was the fourth bird I learned to work with and, in some ways, the most interesting. My acquaintance with her began on November 1, 2011. I say my acquaintance, as the first step in working with Suli is to gain her trust. Suli uses assertiveness to defend herself against her perceived dangers. This apparent aggression isn’t really meanness—she’s a human imprint. Found as a chick by people who thought she had been abandoned by her parents, she was taken to a rehab center in Kansas where she was raised by people. She thinks she’s a person. A shy person. Yep, Suli is shy and she has a lot of fears. So, we have to be accepted by Suli in order to work with her. To do this we have to not jerk away from her or show fear when she gets assertive, as she needs to learn that she is not the boss. Suli would like to be one of the big powerful humans and if she thinks she is more powerful than us, therefore the boss, she will be. Suli tests us all. She wants to know where she stands in the flock. Unfortunately, she sometimes also retests us to see if we are still the boss. I must pass the test each time because if she ever decides she is above me in the flock she will not be the Sweet Suli she should be. Suli still has that wild instinct, even though she thinks she is a human.
I began my time with her by feeding her on her perch. She was suspicious of me at first, but Melissa stood near by which probably gave her some comfort. I held a half of a rat and used my non-gloved fingers to peal back the skin as she ate. The stinker bit me twice and although it did not break my skin, it hurt. She used those bites to test me, to see whether she or I was the most dominant. Surprisingly the very next day, when I presented her my glove, again with food in my fingers, she flew a short distance right to my glove! I was in love with another bird. She still didn’t love me nor completely accept me, even though she had just spent time eating on my glove. She would run at me aggressively when I entered her mew with the food offering, biting my shoes and jerking my slacks. She can be quite the naughty girl. Soon after my early lessons with her I began taking her out into the museum to show her off to visitors and we continued to develop a relationship built on trust and respect.
Now she has completely accepted me, although the relationship is at times rocky. Generally she will step up willingly when I enter her mew to retrieve her and take her out into public. However, at times, especially if she is lying down, she may not have a desire to cooperate. Sometimes she looks at me as though she is trying to say to me, “Didn’t you notice that I am lying down in front of my window trying to enjoy a nice rest? And now you want me to go work?” Arising, she may give me a few medium-hard bites with her beak or step (even run) a short distance away from me. When she does this I wiggle a toy in front of her and this seems to distract her and even alert her to the possibility of the interesting things that she may experience while standing on my glove. She then usually cooperates and steps up on command. Often she gently preens (nibbles on) my hand as I attach her swivel and leash.
Suli shows her intelligence in her behavior. She gets bored easily, is very curious, and of all our birds she is the one that enjoys having a lot of toys. If she is on your glove and bored she will start looking for something to do. I use to wear a little hair clip on the left side of my head until one day, when she was bored, she looked at it and seemed to think, “Hmmm there’s something I could play with,” and over she would reach and start fiddling with my hair clip.
Suli is also a ham! She responds to applause. Yes, applause! She is sure it is just for her and she loves it. Often she responds by opening her wings and showing herself off in her full glory. She seems to be saying, “Aren’t I the coolest bird of all?” During our summer program one visitor really fell in love with Suli, commenting that she was so beautiful. She further went on to describe her as regal and flamboyant. As much as I love Suli, regal is not how I think of her. I could apply the word to Isham or Haya, but with Suli, “regal” would not come to my mind. Flamboyant? Definitely!
I don’t want the public to get the idea that Suli, as an imprint, is a pet, even though she is somewhat more pet-like than our other birds, who hate to be touched. If you are a stranger or have not been accepted into her inner circle of friends, she can be aggressive. I don’t want someone standing there thinking, “Oh, she’s a pet,” and reach out to try to touch her because, wow, she could take a chunk right out of that person. Yes, Suli does want our attention and in some ways she craves our attention. She will instigate play, she will invite you to come over and see her but, like humans, she can be very moody. Even with those of us that she has accepted, if she is not in the mood to see us she can get quite testy, biting and pecking at our hands. Then she is not “Sweet Suli.”
As much as I would wish it, Suli doesn’t really love me but I think she does like me as she sometimes shows affection toward me. She will reach over and preen my hair or reach down and preen the skin on my hands. When she is in a good mood and happy to see me she will do this in a very gentle, dare I say, loving manner. When I enter the mew in the morning, if there is no one else around to hear how silly I sound, I will stop at Suli’s mew, peer through her bars, and greet her with, “Hi Suli ooli, ooli, how’re you doing?” She will always look at me. If she is lying down she may stay in that position or she may get up, turn toward me, put her head down, and stick her tail up. Batting her tiny little eyelashes at me, I can see her peering at me with goo-pot eyes—although that is probably strictly my imagination and desire. She then waits. Waits for what, I am not quite sure. Sometimes I go in and talk to her, other times I go on down the way if I have other things I need to do.
My love for vultures has exploded since I have spent time with Suli. I would like to think that Suli loves me. Of all of our birds, I believe that she is the one that shows the most emotional feelings about the people in her world. After all, she thinks she is one of us. Being a human imprint she has no idea that she is even a bird and sees herself as one of the human flock. Because of this, she also challenges us more than the other birds. It is important for Suli to know where she fits into her inner circle of friends. So Suli and I have an understanding with each other. She knows that I am going to treat her in a gentle, loving way. She also knows, however, that I am not going to let her dominate me. She knows that she is not the top dog, but I hope that she looks at me as a trusted friend.
Comment from Visitors:
“She is such an ugly bird.”
Poor Suli! Vultures have developed in the most efficient way for what they do in life. True, Suli has a bald head but so do a lot of humans. This doesn’t make her ugly. In fact, if she were still in the wild, this would help her to stay cleaner and free of bacteria. Picture what she would look like if she had feathers all over her head, then stuck it down inside a dead animal. A bald head not only doesn’t trap as many scraps of meat and fat but it makes it easier to bake or wash off what she does get on her head. And yes, vultures do bathe. They are not the dirty birds that some folks think they are. In the sun Suli has a beautiful blue sheen to her feathers and the red head, against the black body, complete with a white bill, makes for a striking color combination. Suli also has tiny eyelashes that enhance her eyes, making it hard not to love her as she gazes back at you. I think Suli is beautiful.
