Belled buzzard
A bell-wearing buzzard in folklore, omen of disaster.
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The belled buzzard is a creature from American folklore, often seen as a sign that something bad is coming when its bell rings. Apart from the bell attached to it, the animal looks like a normal buzzard.
The story began with real reports of turkey vultures that had cowbells or sleigh bells fastened to them. Many people believed that only one single belled buzzard existed, rather than several different birds. The legend became especially well-known from the 1880s into the early 1900s.
Quick Facts
- First sightings
- 1881
- Region
- Missouri, Georgia, Florida, Tennessee
Facts from the source article.
Background
Claims regarding the belling, capture, or death of the belled buzzard were not uncommon. An early report of a buzzard having been belled out of Missouri was made in 1881.
An article from May 5, 1900, purportedly described three Georgia veterans belling a buzzard in 1863 in Tallahassee, Florida—though this account is unverified—and a buzzard captured at Ft. Gaines, Georgia was speculated to be the same bird. Another article, 'Aged Buzzard Thought Dead,' claimed the belled buzzard had been belled during the War of 1812 and was 'present at every big engagement since then,' and that it had been sighted as far south as Peru—a claim that appears in only a single source and is not widely established in the canon.
More in Fearsome critters
Sources
Compiled from Wikipedia and the sources listed below. Text from Wikipedia is available under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is adapted from it.
- Wikipedia: Belled buzzard (CC BY-SA 4.0).
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