Baby vulture hatches at Austin Wildlife Rescue in time for Easter

AUSTIN, Texas - Austin Wildlife Rescue welcomed a different kind of Easter chick on Sunday, a baby vulture!

What they're saying:

The nonprofit said the vulture hatched from a pair of black vulture eggs found on an active construction site.

The eggs were brought to the rescue as there was not a good place to put the eggs that wouldn't soon be torn down.

The rescue had been incubating the eggs and waiting to see if they would hatch, saying that the eggs' light blue and brown-speckled color makes it difficult to "candle" to see if they are viable or not. Candling means using a bright light in a dark room to check an egg for fertility, development or cracks.

On Easter Sunday, rescue workers noticed a newly hatched vulture while doing afternoon feedings.

What's next:

The new vulture chick was moved to a large incubator in the rescue's bird of prey room where it is being hand-fed around the clock.

The rescue is waiting to see if the other egg will hatch.

Vultures in Texas

Big picture view:

According to Texas A&M AgriLife's Texas Breeding Bird Atlas, black vultures are common and locally abundant in the eastern two-thirds of the state and a casual summer/fall visitor to the southern High Plains and most of the Rolling Plains.

Their breeding period is from late January to August, and they like to nest in the "dark recesses" of a great variety of places, like caves, hollow trees, brush piles, abandoned buildings, crevices, low vegetation and around trees or logs.

The atlas says while no formal nest is built, breeding pairs will continue to use a nest site for many years as long as the breeding is successful. 

Black vultures have seen an impact on their population due to construction, loss of roost trees, disturbance of nests and roost sites, and highway mortality when they're struck while feeding on other animals killed by vehicles.