On September 7, 2011 the Wildlife Center of Virginia welcomed its newest member to the team!  Buttercup, a human-imprinted Black Vulture, joined the corps of educational animal ambassadors. 

Buttercup hatched at Maymont Nature Center in Richmond in 2004.  Since her parents would not care for her, she was transferred to a permitted rehabilitator. Unfortunately, while she was under the rehabilitator’s care, Buttercup became imprinted on humans.  Birds do not automatically know what they are when they’re born — they visually imprint on their caregivers and identify with that species for life.  Because Buttercup does not fear people and does not identify with her own species, she is not able to be released into the wild.

Although the name “Buttercup” suggests that the vulture is female, Center staff members are actually unsure of the vulture’s gender. Like many raptors, Black Vultures have no obvious characteristics to distinguish between the sexes. Determining Buttercup’s gender would require either DNA testing or internally scoping the bird, and neither of these procedures has been performed. 

After a brief stay in one of the Center’s indoor holding pens for initial observation and a physical examination, Buttercup was moved to one of our outdoor rehabilitation pens, to allow the vulture to acclimate to her new surroundings and to give the Center’s staff time to prepare a permanent enclosure.  At the end of September — just days before the September 25 Open House — Buttercup was moved to one of the education enclosures, where she was able to see and be seen by visitors.  

And after only a few minutes in front of a crowd, it became obvious that Buttercup is not at all shy around humans. Buttercup remained near the front of the enclosure for the duration of the afternoon and visibly responded to approaching visitors–much to their excitement. A highlight of one of the tours included Buttercup engaging in what appeared to be an impromptu game of “peek-a-boo” with the visitors observing the vulture’s enclosure.

In the future the Center’s outreach staff hopes Buttercup will become a traveling ambassador animal — joining many of our other permanent residents in educational programs and events across the region. Buttercup does have experience with being handled as an education bird, and the outreach team will soon begin working with the Black Vulture to assess her behavior. Until then, Buttercup will continue to reside in the educational animal area and entertain visitors and staff members alike with her animated and engaging behavior.

Through the Center’s Caring for Critters program, you can “adopt” Buttercup  … or one of the Center’s other education animals.  Your Caring for Critters donation helps provide food, shelter, and medical care for the sponsored animal … supports the Center’s educational programs … and helps provide state-of-the-art emergency care to thousands of animals admitted to the Wildlife Center each year.