Turkey Vulture
Cathartes aura

Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Subphylum: Vertebrata
Class: Aves
Order: Ciconiiformes
Family: Cathartidae
Genus: Cathartes

Audio for Species

Call
Song

from Macaulay Library

Species Related Links

Additional Turkey Vulture Pictures

Description

Length: 25.2-31.9 in (64-81 cm) Weight: 70.5 oz (2000 g) Wingspan: 66.9-70.1 in (170-178 cm)

Red bare-skinned face, with ivory tipped beak. The juvenile has a gray head with a black beak tip. The body and wings are blackish-brown, with silver-gray under the wings.

Holding its wings up in a slight dihedral and teetering from side to side while flying the Turkey Vulture rarely flaps its wings.

Habitat, Range, and Feeding

Their habitat in eastern North America is mostly farmland and forest. Forested or partly forested areas for nesting with rock outcrops, fallen trees, or abandoned buildings that are isolated from human disturbance. In western North America remote wild areas, rangeland, and agriculture areas, except row-crop lands, are favored. Nesting in rock outcropings and forests mostly. The clutch size is 1 to 3 eggs, that are a creamy-white with dark blotches around the large end.

Vultures feed opportunistically scavenging dead rotting flesh and insects that associate with carrion. They will also occasionally eat feces and manure. The Turkey Vulture's heightened olfactory sense enable them to locate carcasses concealed beneath a forest canopy. They will rarely eat vegetation like vegetable crops and fruit.