Turkey Vulture

Cathartes auraOrder: CICONIIFORMESFamily: Vultures (Cathartidae)
Turkey Vulture Portrait
  Splitbar
Range Map for Turkey Vulture

Overview

Turkey Vulture: Medium vulture, mostly black with red, featherless head and upper neck. Wings are held in a shallow V in flight. One of the few birds of prey that is able to use its sense of smell to find food. They are attracted to the smell of mercaptan, a gas produced by the beginnings of decay.

Range and Habitat

Turkey Vulture: Breeds from southern British Columbia, central Saskatchewan, the Great Lakes, and New Hampshire southward. Spends winters in the Southwest and eastern U.S. northward to southern New England. Preferred habitats include deciduous forests, woodlands, and scrublands; often seen over adjacent farmlands.

Splitbar

Listen:

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Voice Text

Generally silent

Splitbar

Related Birds:

Bald Eagle
Golden Eagle
Osprey
Sandhill Crane
Whooping Crane
Crested Caracara
California Condor
Common Black-Hawk
Zone-tailed Hawk
Black Vulture
.

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Family Vulture (Cathartidae)_blue
Species Cathartes aura
Length26 - 32 Inches
Wingspan70 Inches

Turkey Vulture

Turkey Vulture: Medium vulture, mostly black with red, featherless head and upper neck. Wings are held in a shallow V in flight. One of the few birds of prey that is able to use its sense of smell to find food. They are attracted to the smell of mercaptan, a gas produced by the beginnings of decay.

● Song: Generally silent

● Foraging & Feeding: Turkey Vulture: Feeds on carrion; forages by soaring, finding animal carcasses by sight or smell.

● Breeding & nesting: Turkey Vulture: One to three creamy white eggs, often marked with brown, are laid in a rock crevice, hollow tree, or fallen hollow log, with no nest materials added. Incubation ranges from 38 to 41 days and is carried out by both parents.

● Similar species: Turkey Vulture: Black Vulture is smaller with dark head, and glides with wings held horizontally. Bald and Golden eagles are both superficially similar, but fly on flat wings, have feathered heads, and do not have contrastingly gray flight feathers.

Flight Pattern

Circles with wings in shallow V.
Turkey-Vulture Body Illustration
● Range & Habitat: Turkey Vulture: Breeds from southern British Columbia, central Saskatchewan, the Great Lakes, and New Hampshire southward. Spends winters in the Southwest and eastern U.S. northward to southern New England. Preferred habitats include deciduous forests, woodlands, and scrublands; often seen over adjacent farmlands.
BreedingMonogamous
Population
MigrationMigratory
Weight51.2 Ounces