The vultures are first seen watching the Queen, disguised as an old crone, cackling to herself as she makes her way to the dwarfs' cottage. As vultures are scavengers, they appear to sense an imminent death, and smiling to each other sinisterly, quietly follow her. At the cottage, they watch the events from a tree; the forest animals notice this and, realizing that Snow White is in danger, try to chase the Queen away; however, Snow White, seeing no danger in her, lets her in the cottage. The animals fetch the dwarfs while the Queen succeeds in persuading Snow White to take a bite of the poisoned apple. When they arrive to see her leaving their cottage, they pursue her. The vultures hover above her, and, when she reaches the cliff, they land on a branch above her. After she has fallen to her death by lightning striking the cliff ledge she is standing on while trying to crush the dwarfs with a boulder and saving them from that fate, they fly down. They are last seen swooping down toward where she landed to devour her corpse.
Vultures identical to the Snow White pair make an appearance in the Pecos Bill segment, in the classic role of vultures circling lone travelers in arid American deserts, waiting for them to meet their doom and provide a meal for the birds.
The Vultures appear (via color-tinted archival footage from the 1937 film) in the fourth episode of the first season, Spooks and Magic. They are shown to be the pet birds of "Diller's Midnight Manor", a retirement home for "witches, ghosts, goblins and other death-of-the-party types" opened up by live hostess Phyllis Diller. She quips that while the Security Patrol (made up from the enchanted suits of armor from the climax of Bedknobs and Broomsticks) keeps an eye on the ground, the vultures keep an eye on the Security Patrol.
The vultures appear as audio-animatronics in this dark ride. They loom overtop of guests (representing Snow White) as they are pursued in the woods by the Queen. In the original 1955 version made for Disneyland, the vultures were given more sinister and realistic-looking appearances, but for all future versions of the attractions, as well as in the other parks, the vultures were redesigned to match their appearance in the film. However, in the original 1971 version at Walt Disney World, the heads of the vultures were colored black, arguably making them look even more uncanny and disturbing than even the 1955 vultures. This was corrected in the 1994 version.
The vultures appear in this Magic Kingdom roller coaster. The figures found in it were recycled from those in Walt Disney World's defunct Snow White's Scary Adventures.
Trivia
The sequence in which the vultures watch the Queen fall to her death and then fly down to her body, impressed Sylvia Moberly-Holland enough to inspire her to apply as an "Inspirational Sketch Artist" at the Disney studio.
In Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Judge Doom was going to have a pet vulture named Voltaire (named after one of the French Enlightenment philosophers and a founding father of the ideas behind the French Revolution). Its design was going to be based on one of these two. It ended up being deleted from the final film due to the interest of finishing the latter on schedule. However, it still appears in the original Judge Doom action figure.
A vulture resembling the ones from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs appears in the Night on Bald Mountain segment of Fantasia was perched on the top of a gallow until it flew away when Chernabog stretched his arms and summons ghosts such as hanged criminals.
Another pair of vultures resembling the ones from Snow White made a cameo appearance in the Goofy cartoon Two Gun Goofy.
The vultures appeared again in Fantasia 2000, when they flew away with their bald eagle cousins when the animals march in the ark in the Pomp and Circumstance segment.
The reused vulture appeared again in Fantasia 2000, when it flew away only for the Firebird to destroy the forest in The Firebird Suite segment.
Although the ending of the film implies that the vultures were going to feast on the Queen's body, her reappearances in comic adaptations taking place after that of the first film show this ultimately wasn't the case due to her survival.
The appearance of the vultures in Seven Dwarfs Mine Train, looming over the heads of guests on a lift-hill is reminiscent of the Boothill Boys as seen in Splash Mountain.
The vultures serve as a reflection for the Queen as like her, they are only focused on only one thing (food for them as she's focused on being the fairest in the land) and they each show they couldn't care less over who dies to get what they want (they don't care if either Snow White or the Queen dies as long as they get *something* to eat, just like the Queen is determined to become fairest one of all, regardless of who she has to eliminate). Despite this, however, the vultures can be seen as neutral characters, as they do not interact with the other characters until the Queen's demise.
Gallery
The Queen passing by the vultures
The vultures sneer at each other.
The vultures quietly follow the Queen.
The vultures watching the Queen manipulate Snow White at the cottage
The vultures watch the Queen plummet to her doom.
The vultures swoop down to scavenge the Queen's dead body.
