The Buzzards are Hungry

Clearly, playing possum is not a winning strategy in buzzard country.

Turkey Vultures (not actually a buzzard if you are in the U.S.) will not attack living creatures unless starving. They do not have talons or beaks that are good offensive weapons. They also like really, really smelly stuff. So the normal defense behavior of an opossum, laying still in a death position and often emptying their bowels, triggered by the big birds being around, actually made them interested. All these animals seem a bit confused.

I used to do animal handling at a local zoo. We handled Turkey Vultures. They have a great defense: they shoot projectile vomit at the eyes of a perceived threat. Skunks got nothing on vulture vomit!!!

As is the case with the bison, when enough people call it a buffalo, it is fine to call it such in informal settings.

LOL buzzards, we don’t have buzzards here, not that I’ve seen but we do have hawks. I see them all the time cruising around.

In natural settings, the Black Vulture eats mainly carrion.[40] In areas populated by humans, it may scavenge at garbage dumps, but also takes eggs and decomposing plant material and can kill or injure newborn or incapacitated mammals. Like other vultures, it plays an important role in the ecosystem by disposing of carrion which would otherwise be a breeding ground for disease.