Late-Season Vultures at Devil’s Lake

The summer crowd is still hanging around…

Autumn is getting later. It’s easy to see as I go back through my photos of Devil’s Lake State Park taken since the early 90s. I was pondering this as I was hiking the West Bluff Trail today while being escorted along the cliff edges by about a dozen vultures. They are usually gone by now.

In a “normal” year, we expect turkey vultures from all around our area to gather at the park in mid-September. This annual gathering builds until the skies are filled with them, looking like something from a Hitchcock film. Then, suddenly around the end of the month the winds will change and overnight, they’re gone for another season.

This year two things are different. First, we just haven’t seen the large numbers gathering like other years. Second, they’re still here! I went back through my photos and the latest they’ve ever hung around previously (well, in the last 30ish years) was in 2016, when I got my last photo as the sun set on October 24th. I remember that year because I went out to photograph them the next morning and they were gone.

How long do you think they’ll be around this year?

Derrick Mayoleth

For nearly 2 decades the Skillet Creek blog has focused on 3 main goals; To inspire you to visit and explore the Devil’s Lake region, to help you get the most your visit by sharing tips, events, and other helpful information. Lastly to advocate for our environment & wildlife and talk about how we can keep our natural areas amazing now and into the future! That last goal can sometimes cause controversy, but it’s the only way we can accomplish the first two. – Derrick Mayoleth, Owner.