The Turkey Vulture is one of the most skilled soaring birds. It can be seen riding the thermals and updrafts for hours, while seldom flapping its wings. It holds its wings upward in a shallow 'V' shape while it glides. This bird has relatively weak feet and talons, because it does not need them to kill prey. It will regularly gather in large groups to roost at night, often in a tall tree.

Length: 63.5 to 66 cm

Physical characteristics: The plumage is dark brownish-black overall, aside from the paler, silvery flight feathers. The red head is featherless and small in comparison to the large body. The head of immature birds is ash-gray, much like a Black Vulture. Sexes are similar. This bird is most often seen soaring.

Voice: This species is usually silent, but can hiss softly.

Breeding habitat:
The Turkey Vulture prefers open habitats, in rural areas and lowlands. It will roost in large numbers in trees throughout the year.

Mating system:
Monogamous, long term pair bonds are formed; a pair produces one brood in a season. (It does not re-nest if clutch is destroyed or lost.)

Nest:
Nesting sites are in sheltered areas, such as crevices in cliffs, under rocks, in hollow trees or logs, or inside caves or abandoned man-made structures. The site may be used repeatedly for several years. Little or no nest is constructed; the eggs are laid on debris or on the surface of the nest site.

Eggs:
The female lays 1 - 3 eggs (most often two). The eggs are white and occasionally marked with brown. 71mm (2.8'').

Chick development:
Both male and female incubate the eggs for 38 ? 41 days. The chicks are semi-altricial at hatching. Both parents brood almost continuously for the first five days. They feed and care for the young for 66 - 88 days after hatching.

Diet:
This bird is a carrion feeder, eating almost any type of dead animal. It forages by soaring over open or partly wooded areas and seems to locate food by both sight and smell. It can often be found feeding on animals killed by vehicles on the road. The young are fed by regurgitation.

Conservation Biology:
Although eggshell thinning may reduce its nesting success, the current populations of the Turkey Vulture appear to be stable.

Distribution:
Breeding: The Turkey Vulture breeds in extreme southern Canada and throughout the United States.
Winter: This species is a short-distance migrant. Those in the southern states do not migrate, while those in the North do. Some birds winter as far south as South America.

In the Park:
The Turkey Vulture is a fairly common year-round resident bird species in the Park. It is generally associated with open areas such as Cades Cove and lower elevations, but may be seen soaring overhead anywhere in the park. In a survey of breeding birds in the park, performed from 1996-1999, five Turkey Vultures were observed during the breeding season (note however, the survey was not designed to sample soaring species and is not likely a good representation of Turkey Vulture populations in the park).

References:

Alsop, F. J. III. 1991. Birds Of The Smokies. Great Smoky Mountains History Association, Gatlinburg, Tennessee.

Bent, A. C. and Collaborators. 1996 - 2002. Turkey Vulture, In Life Histories of Familiar North American Birds, ed., Patricia Query Newforth.

Committee on Classification and Nomenclature of the American Ornithologists' Union. 2000. Forty-second supplement to the American Ornithologists' Union Check-list of North American Birds. The Auk 117: 847-858.

Committee on Classification and Nomenclature of the American Ornithologists' Union. 2002. Forty-third supplement to the American Ornithologists' Union Check-list of North American Birds. The Auk 119: 897-906.

Committee on Classification and Nomenclature of the American Ornithologists' Union. 1998. Check-list of North American Birds: the Species of Birds of North America from the Arctic through Panama, including the West Indies and Hawaiian Islands, 7th ed

Ehrlich, P. R., D. S. Dobkin, and D. Wheye. 1988. The Birder's Handbook: a Field Guide to the Natural History of North American Birds. Simon and Schuster, Inc., New York.

Elphick, C., J. B. Dunning, Jr., and D. A. Sibley, eds. 2001. The Sibley Guide to Bird Life and Behavior. Alfred A. Knopf, New York.

Gough, G. A., Sauer, J. R., Iliff, M. Patuxent Bird Identification Infocenter. 1998. Version 97.1. Patuxent Wildlife Research Center, Laurel, MD. http://www.mbr-pwrc.usgs.gov/id/framlst/infocenter.html.

Sibley, D. A. 2000. The Sibley Guide to Birds. Alfred A. Knopf, New York.

Stupka, A. 1963. Notes on the Birds of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. University of Tennessee Press.