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New
World Turkey Vultures in the New Millennium?
by Penelope Cox
New
World Vultures, Buzzards (generic)
Cathartidae Family
Carrion Feeders
My first encounter with Turkey Vultures was at my
upper pool beside a dead ironwood tree.
Two couples visited regularly in early summer. Although I had seen them in earlier years perching in the
trees at Rancho Mañana, until the last three years they had never come to
my present location high up on a hill north of Schoolhouse Road. In spite of their ugly features, I have a certain fascination
for them as I can watch them close at hand with action around the pool.
The Turkey Vulture has a wide range, all the way down
to South America from as far north as southern Canada.
I have seen them in Mexico.
They are carrion feeders, waiting for a dead animal
to rot to a stage when their weaker bills and feet can tear it apart.
Locating these carcasses is not only by sight but also by smell, as
the turkey vulture has the largest olfactory system of all birds, which
accounts for the large hole in their beaks.
On the ground they appear to be awkward and unstable,
but so graceful in the air where their aerial displays consist of soaring
and wheeling, quite often a courtship maneuver.
In flight the wings tip up slightly in a V-shape.
I have watched with fascination their approach and landing at my
pool – wheeling in and around the saguaros, letting down their
“landing gear” just in time to land with a thump!
My ironwood tree became their natural perch and when
I observed one approaching another with wings flapping I had thought it
was a possessive thing, but in fact it was a courtship approach.
Statistics:
Carrion feeders are related to condors.
Turkey Vultures have the distinguishing marks of a red head, yellow
feet, two-toned blackish wings with lighter flight feathers, and a
wingspread of six feet. They
nest – no formal nest, per se, but deposit eggs - in a cavity amongst
rocks or in cliffs or even in logs, if available, and lay one to three
blotched, brown and white eggs. Their
voices are mostly silent, but they can hiss or groan if disturbed.
Their migration period is usually around October and
they come back in March/April. So
join me next March to watch for them.
Like the swallows returning to Capistrano, so the Turkey Vultures
will be seen soaring beautifully on their return to Cave Creek.
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