To reflect on the year, Chapelboro.com is re-publishing some of the top stories that impacted and defined our community’s experience in 2025. These stories and topics affected Chapel Hill, Carrboro and the rest of our region.
When vultures are flying together, the correct term for the group of birds is a kettle. When that group is roosting in trees, it is called a committee. If the scavengers are feeding together, they are called a wake. And for some residents in Hillsborough, a group of vultures regularly around West Queen Street have developed into a problem for their quality of life. A dispute between neighbors over one person attracting the birds to his property developed into a broader discussion in Orange County about wildlife ordinances and enforcement.
Ken Ostrand knows dozens of facts about vultures. A historian by trade, he is adept at researching and remembering different details about all kinds of topics. He says he took up an interest in the carnivorous scavengers after he and his wife Linda moved to West Queen Street in Hillsborough and frequently saw the birds at their house…