What Animals Form a Wake?
The one collective noun that’s a pun on purpose — vultures gathered over a carcass, just like mourners at a funeral.
Which Animals Form a Wake?
“Wake” describes buzzards and vultures. Unlike most collective nouns, which drifted into use through vague association or medieval hunting jargon, this one is a genuine, intentional pun — and it’s specifically tied to feeding behavior, not just any gathering of the birds.
Where Does “Wake” Come From?
“Wake” in the funeral sense comes from Old English wacan, “to watch” or “be awake” — a wake was originally a night spent watching over a body before burial. Vultures earned the term because a group of them circling and settling around a carcass looks, to the human eye, uncomfortably like mourners gathering around the dead. It’s one of the few collective nouns in English that was coined specifically as dark humor rather than practical description, and it stuck precisely because it’s such a good fit.
Technically, vulture-watchers use several different terms depending on what the birds are doing: a committee or venue when they’re perched together, a kettle when they’re circling on rising air currents, and a wake specifically when they’re on the ground, feeding. “Wake” is the one that made it into everyday use because it’s the most memorable.
Wake of Vultures vs. Funeral Wake
Both describe a gathering centered on death — that’s not a coincidence, it’s the entire joke. A funeral wake is a vigil for a specific person who has died; a wake of vultures is the birds’ equivalent, minus the vigil and plus the eating. The overlap is intentional wordplay, not a shared etymology — the animal usage borrowed the funeral term because the visual parallel was too good to pass up.
Animal-by-Animal Breakdown
Buzzards: Commonly called a “wake,” alongside “cauldron” for birds circling in flight — buzzards and vultures are close enough in behavior (and often confused in casual usage, especially in North America, where “buzzard” is sometimes used to mean vulture) that they share several of the same collective nouns. Read the full Wake of Buzzards entry for more.
Vultures: The bird the term was really built for. “Wake” applies specifically when vultures are feeding; when perched, they’re a “committee” or “venue,” and in flight on thermals, a “kettle.” All three terms are in genuine use among birders — “wake” is simply the one that escaped into general vocabulary.
🧠 Test Your Knowledge
Three quick questions. See what stuck.1. What does “wake” mean in its original, funeral sense?
2. What is a group of vultures called when they’re circling in the air?
3. When is “wake” the correct term for a group of vultures?
Frequently Asked Questions
What animals form a wake?
Buzzards and vultures are both described as a wake, a deliberate pun on the funeral vigil of the same name.
Why is a group of vultures called a wake?
Because vultures gathering around a carcass visually resemble mourners gathering around the dead at a funeral wake — it’s an intentional dark joke that became standard usage.
Is wake the only collective noun for vultures?
No. Vultures are also called a committee or venue when perched, and a kettle when circling in flight. Wake applies specifically when they’re feeding.
Are buzzards and vultures the same bird?
Not exactly, though the names are often used interchangeably, especially in North America. They share several collective nouns because of their similar scavenging behavior.
Where does the word wake come from?
From Old English wacan, meaning “to watch” or “be awake,” originally describing a night spent watching over a body before burial.