How to Identify aTurkey Vulture
Cathartes aura · 25–32 in (64–81 cm)
Male vs. female
Male
Blackish-brown with silvery flight feathers below and a bare red head. Sexes look alike.
Female
Identical to the male in the field.
Male photo: Charles J. Sharp / Wikimedia, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Second photo: Félix Uribe from Rionegro, Antioquia, Colombia / Wikimedia, CC BY-SA 2.0
Field marks
- Wings held in a shallow V rather than flat
- Rocks and tilts constantly while soaring
- Small bare red head on a large dark body
- Two-toned underwing: dark linings, silvery flight feathers
Similar species
What it sounds like
Nearly silent — it has no syrinx and can only hiss and grunt.
Behaviour that gives it away
Finds carrion by smell rather than sight, one of very few birds that can, and locates food hidden under forest canopy.
Habitat & range
Open country, roadsides and woodland across most of the United States, roosting communally in tall trees.
When you'll see it
Depending on where in North America you are, it is present all year and a summer visitor that arrives to breed.
What it eats
Carrion, located largely by smell.
Did you know?
It has an exceptional sense of smell for a bird and can detect carrion beneath a closed forest canopy.
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