The question of what a group of buzzards is called has a complex answer that depends entirely on where the question is being asked. The collective nouns used to describe these birds are varied and often hold a direct connection to the bird’s behavior and location. These evocative terms apply almost exclusively to one group of birds, despite the widespread and confusing use of the name “buzzard” across different continents.
Defining the Buzzard: The Terminology Confusion
The confusion over the collective noun begins with the bird itself, as the name “buzzard” refers to two biologically distinct groups of raptors in different parts of the world. In Europe and the Old World, a buzzard is a bird of prey belonging to the Buteo genus, which includes species like the Common Buzzard. These true buzzards are predatory birds that actively hunt live prey.
In North America, however, the term “buzzard” is commonly used as a colloquial name for New World Vultures, such as the Turkey Vulture and the Black Vulture. Early European settlers applied the familiar name to these large, soaring birds. The collective nouns that are most distinctive, such as “kettle” and “wake,” apply to these scavenging New World Vultures, which are more closely related to storks than to the European buzzards. Understanding the collective names requires focusing on the behavior of the vulture species.
The Specific Names for Vulture Groups
The group of birds colloquially called “buzzards” in the Americas—vultures—is known by multiple collective nouns, determined by what the birds are doing at the moment of observation. These names are specific identifiers for different phases of the vulture’s social life. The three most recognized and context-specific collective nouns are a kettle, a committee, and a wake.
These terms are used to precisely describe the location or activity of the gathering. A large group of vultures can transition between all three names within a single day as they move from their roosting site to their feeding grounds. The collective noun functions as a descriptive term for the observed behavior. The three principal names capture the most dramatic and observable groupings.
Names Based on Activity
The most detailed and descriptive collective nouns are linked directly to the vulture’s social behavior, which is driven by its need to conserve energy and find carrion.
Kettle
The term kettle is used only when the birds are in flight. This name describes the appearance of a group of vultures soaring upward on currents of warm air, where the swirling mass resembles the steam rising from a boiling pot.
Vultures are adept at exploiting rising columns of warm air, called thermals, to gain altitude without expending much energy flapping their broad wings. They circle within the thermal, which lifts them hundreds or even thousands of feet into the sky, allowing them to survey a vast area for potential food sources. This makes the kettle a strategy for efficient travel and foraging.
Committee
The collective noun changes to a committee or a council when the birds are at rest. This term applies to vultures that are gathered on the ground, perched communally in a dead tree, or lined up on a man-made structure like a cell tower or power line.
Vultures roost together for safety, as the large number of eyes increases the chances of spotting predators or communicating the location of a new feeding opportunity. These communal roosts, which can sometimes number in the hundreds of birds, are an important part of the vulture’s social structure and can involve both Black Vultures and Turkey Vultures resting side-by-side.
Wake
When the birds descend and congregate around a food source, the gathering is known as a wake. This name is suggestive, as it evokes the image of a gathering around a deceased body, which is precisely what the vultures are doing.
The wake is not only the scene of the actual feeding, but also the group of birds waiting nearby for their turn, which involves a specific social hierarchy. This gathering demonstrates their role in the ecosystem as nature’s sanitation crew, efficiently recycling nutrients back into the environment by consuming carrion.