8:11am Tuesday 12th August 2008
A LOVESICK vulture has at last found the bird of his dreams, after a worldwide search to find a partner.
Ten-year-old Barry, an American black vulture, has been ruffling more than a few feathers among visitors to the Kirkleatham Owl Centre, near Redcar.
The hand-reared raptor has, until now, fancied human beings more than birds and has been treating them to courtship displays to entice them to mate with him.
Centre spokesman Craig Wesson said Barry, who is also frightened of food on the bone, has been on his own for most of his life and prefers people to birds.
He said: “This year he has been doing his mating display to everyone and everybody – more exaggerated than I have ever seen; really going to town.
“He sits back on his haunches, grunts a lot and flaps his wings. We have had a lot of people asking if the vulture is all right, if he is having a fit. But really he had taken a fancy to them.
“People get a bit shocked when you tell them it is just that he has taken to them.”
Mr Wesson said that after a failed search of the UK’s bird gardens and zoos to find a mate for Barry, staff at the centre spread their net to Europe.
After inquiries with 20 bird centres, Ostrava Zoo, in the Czech Republic, offered the owl centre an immature female black vulture.
The unnamed female arrived in the North-East six weeks ago and the two vultures hit it off straight away, and have spent every day together, but are separated at night.
Mr Wesson said: “At night, Barry walks through the door to his own aviary, and I think he is quite glad to do so.
“She is a bit full of it. She follows him around all the time, steals his food and pecks his backside.
“He is a lovely, intelligent bird. He is ugly, which is not unusual for vultures, but is very sensitive and easily gets upset.”
In the wild, American black vultures, which can have a 5ft wingspan, will chase off rival turkey vultures to get to a carcass.
But not Barry, because he has an aversion to bones.
Mr Wesson said: “If you give him meat on the bone, he tends to get paranoid that the bone is going to get him back.
“He will sneak up behind it.
He is a very sensitive soul.”
Staff at the centre were initially concerned that Barry might be aggressive to his intended mate, but now the two have become lovebirds.
Mr Wesson said: “He sits very close to her.
“It is surprising how he has taken to her. We expected more aggression, but it seems he realises he was a vulture all along.”
■ The centre is open every day except Monday, with daily flying displays at 2.30pm.
Entry is £3.50 for adults and £2.30 for children.
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