The Turkey Vulture

The turkey vulture (Cathartes aura) is one of the chief avian scavengers of the United States, consuming huge quantities of unsanitary and (to human sensibilities) offensive carrion from roads, fields and forests. Three subspecies inhabit North America: the eastern (found in Pennsylvania); western; and Mexican turkey vultures.

Adults are about 30 inches in length, with wingspans up to six feet. Their bodies are covered with blackish-brown feathers, and sexes are colored alike. Seen from below, a turkey vulture's wings appear two-toned, the flight feathers lighter-colored than the rest of the feathering. Turkey vultures soar with wings held above the horizontal, forming a gently V. The birds rock and tilt unsteadily in the air.

Vultures are efficient soarers, their long, broad wings holding them aloft like kites. In a rising current of air, a vulture can maintain or even increase altitude without flapping its wings. Since they don't use their wings as much as most birds, vultures have relatively small breast muscles. Like many hawks and falcons, vultures migrate along mountain ridges, using thermal updrafts to keep airborne and conserve energy. They may remain on their roosts for several days when rainy weather makes soaring difficult.

The turkey vulture is a year-round resident in southern Pennsylvania. It is a common migrant in late February and March. In summer, it breeds throughout the state. In fall, it passes through during September and October, with stragglers into early November. A few winter in the southeastern counties (Adams, Berks, Bucks, Chester, Cumberland, Delaware, Franklin, Lancaster, Lehigh, Montgomery, Northampton, Philadelphia and York), and occasionally in the southwestern counties (Fayette and Green). Most turkey vultures winter in the southern United States, Middle America and South America.

Text excerpted from Vultures, by Chuck Fergus, Pennsylvania Game Commission. Photo by Robert Hayes Cummins, Ohio Bird Collection.

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