Story and photo by Anita Westervelt, Texas Master Naturalist
Not everyone appreciates turkey vultures, although they should. These carrion scavengers perform a much-needed environmental service. Their scientific name, Cathartes aura, provides a clue to their place in the ecosystem. Cathartes, is a Greek word meaning “purify.”
Although a permanent Valley resident, an abundance of turkey vultures come for the winter. They are one of the largest birds that can be seen in the Valley skies, having a wingspan of six feet. On the ground, they stand more than two feet tall.
Turkey vultures’ scavenging ways help prevent the spread of diseases such as rabies and tuberculosis by clearing away carcasses. The vultures are remarkably resistant to most diseases, especially those likely to be present in carrion. They also have the ability to use a process called urohydrosis, whereby an animal urinates on itself in order to cool down in extremely hot temperatures. Vultures use this process to disinfect their legs of bacteria after feeding on a rotten carcass. Their urine has high levels of acid, as do their stomachs which help the birds destroy lethal bacteria during digestion and break down ingested bones.
Their diet consists almost entirely of animal remains. There’s an opportune time as far as road kill — the fresher the better. They won’t eat extremely rotted carcasses. They do eat garbage, often frequent landfills, and will eat vegetables, like pumpkin, if there is a food shortage. Turkey vultures are unable to carry off their carrion. Their feet are chicken like, not talon-like as hawks. Their beak can pierce through the toughest cow hide.
One of the very few birds that can smell, turkey vultures can smell carrion less than 12-24 hours old. They also detect by sight, but rely heavily on their sense of smell. They can sniff out a dead critter from more than a mile away, and locate a dead rat hidden under a pile of leaves. They’ve been known to cruise 30 to 50 miles in search of food. They are more likely to search out food away from urban areas.
A group of vultures feeding around a carcass is referred to as a wake. In flight formation, they are called a kettle. A group of vultures, like on branches in a tree, is called a venue, volt or committee. They often roost together with black vultures at communal roosts, sometimes by the hundreds.
Black vultures, also permanent Valley residents, can be recognized in flight by their short, squared tail feathers that barely extend beyond the wing; their feet often protrude beyond the tail.
In spite of their large size, turkey vultures only weigh two to four pounds, which is how they can virtually float in the sky using thermal currents. This technique uses very little energy as the vultures rarely need to flap their wings. They can swoop up to 60 mph.
When flying, turkey vultures, hold their wings in a “V” above their backs, creating a slight angle that stabilizes their flight in turbulence.
Nationalgeographic.com, earthtouchnews.com, peregrinefund.org, allaboutbirds.org and Alsop, III, Fred J., Smithsonian Handbooks, “Birds of Texas,” DK Publishing, Inc. 2002 were helpful in writing this article.