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Photograph courtesy of Don Desjardin
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Words For Wildlife
by State licensed Wildlife Rehabilitator, James Orr
TURKEY VULTURE, Its a good thing!
The Turkey Vulture is one of the largest birds in North America having a wingspan up to 6 feet. They are often mistaken for eagles when soaring although the vulture holds its wings an a “V” shape and rarely flaps its wings. The eagle holds its wings out flat and does flap fairly often.
The Cherokee Nation nick named the turkey vulture the “peace eagle” because it looks like an eagle but does not kill. It has small weak talons and is incapable of killing prey. About half its diet is plant matter and the rest dead animals. There are two other types of vultures in the US, the Black Vulture and the California Condor both of whom do kill prey.
The Turkey Vulture fascinates scientists because it can eat rotted meat full of dangerous pathogens without getting sick. Its scientific name, Cathartes ura, means “cleanser” which is quite appropriate as the birds droppings and pellets are clean and disease free despite it’s diet. Like owls, Turkey Vultures also regurgitate pellets (bolus) made of died hair, bone material, and vegetation. The pellets are smaller than a chicken egg, have no odor and are also clean and free of disease. The vultures digestive system kills any virus and bacteria in the food it eats. These birds perform a great service by eliminating disease that might otherwise spread from dead carcasses.
One of our rehabilitation volunteers discovered the Turkey Vulture’s primary defense strategy the hard way. She stopped to pick up an injured vulture on her way to work. Much to her dismay the bird vomited all over her. I won’t go into detail, but suffice it to say she was not very popular at work that day. The Vultures can actually project their vomit quite a distance if they want to. It is unclear if this is to empty their stomach for a quick take off or an offensive weapon like a skunk. In either case it serves its purpose providing the bird added protection when threatened.
The turkey Vulture is a very clean bird spending up to two hours a day cleaning and grooming itself. It is a family oriented bird, living and working with other vultures in a very friendly manner. They roost together at night in a common tree and even play games with each other. The Turkey Vulture Society (I am not kidding) reports observing vultures playing follow the leader, tag, showing off aerial tricks, even one group of vultures that kicked around a ball to each other every day after a meal.
Turkey Vultures also share large food finds with other vultures. Not only do they share with their local roost mates, but they will invite other groups of vultures from distant roosts to join them if the meal is large enough. It is unknown exactly how they communicate the location of the feast to other birds but it has been observed time and again. Sometimes roosts travel over thirty miles to join the party, sleeping and visiting with the host group until the food is gone, then returning home.
Turkey Vultures often use the same roost tree for generations. It is not uncommon for each bird to have it’s own specific perch on one particular branch that it uses every night it is at the roost. There are some roosts that have been used for over 100 years.
Besides their immunity to desease, the Turkey Vulture has some unique physical characteristics that help it to find and eat carrion. They have an incredible senses of sight, smell and hearing. Their sense of smell is almost incomprehensible by our standards in that they can detect air particles in parts per trillion and even tell what direction they came from. Their featherless head is far more practical for a career in cadaver cleaning than one full of feathers.
Turkey Vultures have been know to take a liking to humans (as friends not the main course at dinner). There is one story of a vulture following a child to school bus stop and watching from the top of a telephone pole until the bus departed. It returned to the pole everyday just before the bus returned and followed the boy home.
There are stories involving injured birds being treated by rehabilitators and becoming emotionally attached following the handler around like a pet dog.
Turkey vultures are quite intelligent and in one documented case learned tricks four times faster than a hawk.
For many years the Turkey Vulture has been associated with Raptors (owls, hawks, eagles etc.) but recent DNA studies have resulted in it being reclassified in the stork family.
Let’s just hope the storks and vultures don’t mix up their delivery chores.
DONATIONS NEEDED If you would like to help any donation amount it is greatly appreciated. Donations should be made out to Witter Wildlife Refuge and can be sent to P.O. Box 1118, Huntsville AR 72740.
See web page under "HOW YOU CAN HELP" for specific ways you can help us help wildlife
