When do turkey vultures nest

Unfortunately, this was not always the case. In the past, these Vultures were shot because ranchers and farmers mistakenly believed that they spread diseases and contaminated watering holes for livestock, although there is no evidence to substantiate this claim.

These Vultures also have been blamed and persecuted for livestock losses they were not responsible for. Individuals, historically and currently, are sometimes mistakenly poisoned at baited carcasses and are killed or injured in steel leg-hold traps set for mammals. Environmental contaminants including lead, mercury, and insecticides can poison these Vultures.

Overall numbers of Turkey Vultures remained stable during the DDT era of the s to the early s, even though eggshell-thinning and reduced reproductive success due to pesticide contamination occurred in some areas. Turkey Vultures frequently feed on roadkill, and collisions with automobiles are a common source of mortality in some areas. The species also collides with aircraft; between and , Turkey Vulture collisions with United States Air Force aircraft resulted in two human deaths, three airplane crashes, and a loss of more than 21 million dollars.

Migrating Raptors of the World. Cornell University Press. Hawks in flight. Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston, Massachusetts. AND D. Raptors of the World. KIRK, D. AND M. Turkey Vulture Cathartes aura. Poole and F. Gill, Eds. The Birds of North America, Inc.

AND H. Raptors: North American birds of prey. Voyageur Press, Stillwater, Minnesota. North American birds of prey. A photographic guide to North American raptors. Academic Press, San Diego, California. Subscribe Shop Blog Events News. Turkey Vultures are the most migratory of all vultures. Carthartes aura year annual average: 92 Record year: Best chance to see: Early November. What Size is a Turkey Vulture?

Wingspan 5'6" Length 2'2"-2'8" W-L ratio 2. Are so named because their red, featherless heads resemble those of Wild Turkeys Meleagris gallopavo. Although they feed almost exclusively on carrion dead animals , they sometimes take live prey.

Are the most migratory of all vultures. This species is common in the lower forest zones and the western steppe zones on the eastern Cascades. It nests in small caves or ledges on high cliffs in these regions.

What they eat : Turkey Vultures eat a wide variety of carrion, from small mammals to dead cows. Also some insects, other invertebrates, and some fruit are consumed. Nesting: The is no nest structure.

The female Turkey Vulture lays 1 to 3 eggs directly on ground in caves, crevices, mammal burrows, hollow logs, under fallen trees, or in abandoned buildings. The eggs are creamy-white with dark blotches around large end. Behavior: Turkey vultures are almost exclusively scavengers Cathartes means "purifier" , so this species rarely kills small animals.

They form communal roosts which facilitate group foraging and social interactions. The roosts range in size from a few birds to several thousand. Why do turkey vultures defecate on their feet?

Author: Jeannette E. Photo: Robert Keiffer. Tags: oak woodland 4 , turkey vultures 1. Interesting piece: in young redwood stands, I have observed dozens of nest sites, typically in burned-out and hollow redwood stumps within typically dense conifer stands.

The "nest" consists of scratched earth within the stump area. We live on the Oregon Coast and have noticed a Turkey Vulture alone in a field of cattle across from our house. We have never seen the alone and not in a group although we see groups frequently.

Sometimes I see him. It doesn't seem to have any problem flying. It has been there for a week or more. Do you know any possible reason for this odd behavior? There are new calves in the field but they all seem to be healthy. One was just born a couple of days ago and I wondered if the vulture was interested in the afterbirth. I would think there would be more or it would have finished the afterbirth by now. Could it be nesting? TUVUs have an incredible sense of smell and can key into small odors emitting form dead rodents, afterbirth, etc.

TUVUs will often spread their wings open, in theory to warm up in morning sunlight. I think your TUVU simply has adjusted to a routine place to do such a thing They will often do this alone. TUVUs need a large cavity of some sort for nesting. We had a single turkey vulture show up at our house about 8 weeks ago.

Seem content to just hang out with our peacocks and chickens. All of which are free range on our 40 acres of mostly wooded land. I have asked local vets and hunters.

No one can seem to explain this odd behavior. We would really appreciate any insight you can provide. Thank you, Cynthia Anderson. We had a turkey vulture stop by in our backyard. The local steller's jays went crazy harrying it.

The turkey vulture just ducked its head and seemed to be communicating that it was just browsing for dead things. I lived in an area in the Hualapai mountain foothills. I have seen some quite large vultures here and there nesting even on power pole lofts. We have large basalt ridges all around the town and I often see large nest areas. I do allot of hiking and camping locally. I have a photo of one nesting above in the tall pines on the mountain over our camp site.

I have seen some extremely large birds eating in areas I hike that have high cliff caves. Mostly inaccessable to humans or non flying creatures. The most incredible sight I saw was of many birds all roosting on the block where I lived. Each tree seemed to have 6 birds in it. My cat disappeared that week and maybe something had been hunting in the area.

It was like a family reunion. I have noticed a lot of owls lately. And had my small dog with me when I photographed a large horned owl atop a large boulder watching for an opportunity to get her.

I am sure it could have easily done so. I also noticed two cone shaped basalt formations that were quite large. They have ladder type Footholds carved into them which I had difficulty accessing due to erosion. I saw stones dry starched in the eye type cave area that would have been able to sleep in comfortably even for a human.

I imagine that they were occasionally used for nesting. The carved foothold on the one look old like perhaps the Indian tribes of the past used them to gather eggs or sleep in.

I can find the pics I have if your interested in seeing them. Torixain Gmail. My son and I were exploring for new caves in central Nevada last year, when we heard the most horrifying hissing coming from deep in the cave. After a lot of soul searching, we made our way back over 20 feet, only to come on to 2 young turkey vultures.

Was we ever relieved This morning I observed a juvenile turkey vulture in what appears to be an abandoned osprey nest at the top of a dead pine. Adults were in the area. I took some pics yesterday of what I thought to be a Hawk but it turned out to be a Turkey Vulture upon investigating. And I thought it was weird because it was in the city. So when it landed I took a pic and upon editing I see that it had a partner and they were on a building where it goes in right before the roof and its dark and private.

So my question would be is that normal and do they nest in the city? I live in New York State. We have a ton of turkey vultures here. There have been three hanging out by my house for the last couple of weeks. They perch on a dead tree. They keep flying down to the ground in the midst of a bunch of close knit brambles. I thought maybe there was something dead down there, but I couldn't see or smell anything from about 10' away.