Vulture
A vulture was a large type of raptor, known for scavenging, that was native to Earth. 

When Montgomery Scott was asked for a progress report by James T. Kirk on the 's repairs, following an encounter with three Romulan battle cruisers near the Romulan Neutral Zone, Scott told him, "we should be in tiptop shape in another 24 hours, no thanks to those Romulan vultures." ()

When the  discovered a nebula rich in sirillium, in 2373, Kathryn Janeway became inundated with ideas of what could be used with the gas,  Chakotay acknowledged the suggestions, stating to Janeway, "the vultures are circling." ()

Later that year, when Janeway was encountered by an non-corporeal alien posing as her father, she grew suspicious of its motives and confronted it, stating, "you don't strike me as any kind of good Samaritan. You're more like a vulture, preying on people at the moment of their death when they're most vulnerable." ()

When Voyager sought refuge on the Vaadwaur homeworld, in 2376, from several Turei vessels that were in orbit, Chakotay described them as "circling like vultures," Janeway assured him, however, that "they're going to go hungry." ()

The following year, when Voyager became trapped in "", and their sensors detected that they were being monitored by several other vessels in the Void, looking to steal their resources, Tom Paris described the situation by stating that "the vultures are circling." Upon hearing this, Janeway stated that "vultures eat the dead, Mr. Paris. We're not dead yet." ()

See also
 Arbazan vulture
 Rectilian vulture
 Vulture Home Trailers

External link
 

de:Geier
Earth animals
Avians