• The turkey vulture (Cathartes aura) is the most common vulture in the western hemisphere, ranging from southern Canada to the tip of South America.  (It is sometimes called a “buzzard”.)

• The species is usually found in open country, but they are also known to adapt to tropical forests and shrublands.

• Most populations of turkey vultures in the southern US are year-round residents, but the vultures we see in Colorado are migratory. Some migrate as far as Cape Horn in South America.

• With a wingspan up to 72 inches and silvery gray flight feathers, the mostly black turkey vultures are easily distinguishable from large dark raptors.  In flight, its wings have a relatively large dihedral angle and they tip back and forth while soaring, rarely flapping.

• Both sexes look alike and can weigh up to 5 pounds.

• As scavengers, these vultures feed almost exclusively on carrion and find their meals by sight or smell. Compared to other birds, the olfactory lobe in their brain is large.  They have strong bills for tearing apart flesh, and they have weak feet which makes catching prey difficult. Their diet of dead animals provides an important ecological function by ridding the landscape of disease-breeding carcasses.

• The species name is derived from the fact that their bare head resembles a turkey.  It is this featherless head that evolved to prevent bacteria from accumulating.  The bare head also aids in temperature regulation.

• Mature turkey vultures have red heads because the blood vessels are closer to the surface of their skin.  A juvenile can be recognized because of its dark head.  It is believed that hormones regulate the change in color as the birds mature.

• Lacking a syrinx (vocal organ), vultures can only hiss and grunt.

• Turkey vultures don’t build nests, using caves, crevices, burrows, or large tree cavities instead.  Both adults care for the brood (usually two chicks) for about ten weeks.

• A group of vultures (called a “committee”) can often be found resting in trees with wings out-stretched.  When they gather to feast on a carcass, the group is called a “wake”.  In flight, they are known as a “kettle”.

Sources: volunteer Leslie Dixon, Sibley's Field Guide to Western Birds of North America, Birds of Colorado by Stan Tekiela.