Turkey vulture
Turkey vulture Temporal range:
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A turkey vulture in Orange Walk District, Belize | |
Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Aves |
Order: | Cathartiformes |
Family: | Cathartidae |
Genus: | Cathartes |
Species: | C. aura
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Binomial name | |
Cathartes aura | |
Range of C. aura[image reference needed] Summer only range Year-round range
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Synonyms | |
Vultur aura Linnaeus, 1758 |
The turkey vulture (Cathartes aura) is the most widespread of the
Like all New World vultures, it is not closely related to the Old World vultures of Europe, Africa, and Asia. However, the two groups strongly resemble each other due to convergent evolution.
The turkey vulture is a
Names
It is also known in some North American regions as a "buzzard" or "turkey buzzard" and in some areas of the Caribbean as the "John crow" or "carrion crow."[8]
Taxonomy
The turkey vulture received its
The
However, recent genetic studies indicate that neither New World nor Old World vultures are close to
There are five subspecies of turkey vulture:
Image | Subspecies | Description | Distribution |
---|---|---|---|
C. a. aura Linnaeus, 1758, the Antillean turkey vulture. | The nominate subspecies. This subspecies occasionally overlaps its range with other subspecies. It is the smallest of the subspecies, but is nearly indistinguishable from C. a. meridionalis in color.[21] | It is found from Mexico south through South America and the Greater Antilles. | |
C. a. jota Molina, GI 1782, the Chilean turkey vulture | Larger, browner, and slightly paler than C. a. ruficollis. The secondary feathers and wing coverts may have gray margins.[22] | Pacific coast of Ecuador to Tierra del Fuego and Falkland Islands. | |
C. a. meridionalis Swann, 1921, the western turkey vulture, is a synonym for C. a. teter. | C. a. teter was identified as a subspecies by Friedman in 1933, but in 1964 Alexander Wetmore separated the western birds, which took the name meridionalis, which was applied earlier to a migrant from South America. | It breeds from southern Manitoba, southern British Columbia, central Alberta and Saskatchewan south to Baja California, south-central Arizona, southeastern New Mexico, and south-central Texas.[23] It is the most migratory subspecies, migrating as far as South America, where it overlaps the range of the smaller C. a. aura. It differs from the eastern turkey vulture in color, as the edges of the lesser wing coverts are darker brown and narrower.[21] | |
C. a. ruficollis Spix, 1824, the tropical turkey vulture | It is darker and more black than C. a. aura, with brown wing edgings which are narrower or absent altogether.[24] The head and neck are dull red with yellow-white or green-white markings. Adults generally have a pale yellow patch on the crown of the head.[22] | Found in Panama south through Uruguay and Argentina. It is also found on the island of Trinidad.[24] | |
C. a. septentrionalis Wied-Neuwied, 1839 is known as the eastern turkey vulture | The eastern and western turkey vultures differ in tail and wing proportions. It is less migratory than C. a. meridionalis and rarely migrates to areas south of the United States.[21] | It ranges from southeastern Canada south through the eastern United States. |
Description
A large bird, it has a wingspan of 160–183 cm (63–72 in), a length of 62–81 cm (24–32 in), and weight of 0.8 to 2.41 kg (1.8 to 5.3 lb).[25][26][27][28] Birds in the northern limit of the species' range average larger in size than the vulture from the neotropics. 124 birds from Florida averaged 2 kg (4.4 lb) while 65 and 130 birds from Venezuela were found to average 1.22 and 1.45 kg (2.7 and 3.2 lb), respectively.[29][30][31] It displays minimal sexual dimorphism; sexes are identical in plumage and in coloration, and are similar in size.[32] The body feathers are mostly brownish-black, but the flight feathers on the wings appear to be silvery-gray beneath, contrasting with the darker wing linings.[25] The adult's head is small in proportion to its body and is red in color with few to no feathers. It also has a relatively short, hooked, ivory-colored beak.[33] The irises of the eyes are gray-brown; legs and feet are pink-skinned, although typically stained white. The eye has a single incomplete row of eyelashes on the upper lid and two rows on the lower lid.[34]
The two front toes of the foot are long and have small webs at their bases.
Captive longevity is not well known. As of 2022[update], there is one captive bird over 48 years old: a male named Lord Richard that lives at the
The oldest wild captured banded bird was 16 years old.[3]
Like most other vultures, the turkey vulture has very few vocalization capabilities. Because it lacks a
Distribution and habitat
The turkey vulture has a large range, with an estimated global occurrence of 28,000,000 km2 (11,000,000 sq mi). It is the most widely distributed vulture in the Americas and rivals its cousin the black vulture as the most abundant raptorial bird worldwide.
This bird with its crow-like aspect gave foot to the naming of the Quebrada de los Cuervos (Crows Ravine) in Uruguay, where they dwell together with the lesser yellow-headed vulture and the black vulture.[52]
Ecology and behavior
The turkey vulture is gregarious and roosts in large community groups, breaking away to forage independently during the day. Several hundred vultures may roost communally in groups, which sometimes even include black vultures. It roosts often on dead, leafless trees as well as low-density conifers, and will also roost on man-made structures such as water or microwave towers. Though it nests in caves, it does not enter them except during the breeding season.[5] The turkey vulture lowers its night-time body temperature by about 6 degrees Celsius to 34 °C (93 °F), becoming slightly hypothermic.[35]
This vulture is often seen standing in a spread-winged or horaltic stance. The stance is believed to serve multiple functions: drying the wings, warming the body, and baking off bacteria. It is practiced more often following damp or rainy nights. This same behavior is displayed by other New World vultures, by Old World vultures, and by storks.[6] Like storks, the turkey vulture often defecates on its own legs, using the evaporation of the water in the feces and/or urine to cool itself, a process known as urohidrosis.[53] It cools the blood vessels in the unfeathered tarsi and feet, and causes white uric acid to streak the legs.[54] The turkey vulture has few natural predators and the few recorded predators appear to take them quite infrequently. Fledging, immature and adult vultures, in descending likelihood of predation, may fall prey to great horned owls, golden eagles, bald eagles and potentially red-tailed hawks, while eggs and nestlings may be preyed on by mammals such as raccoons and opossums.[6][26][55][56][57] Foxes can occasionally ambush an adult but species that can climb are more likely to breach and predate nests than adults, while dogs may sometimes rarely kill a turkey vulture as well.[58] Its primary form of defense is regurgitating semi-digested meat, a foul-smelling substance, which deters most creatures intent on raiding a vulture nest.[5] It will also sting if the predator is close enough to get the vomit in its face or eyes. In some cases, the vulture must rid its crop of a heavy, undigested meal to take flight to flee from a potential predator.[33] Its life expectancy in the wild ranges upward of 16 years, with a captive life span of over 45 years being possible.[59][60][61]
The turkey vulture is awkward on the ground with an ungainly, hopping walk. It requires a great deal of effort to take flight, flapping its wings while pushing off the ground and hopping with its feet.
Breeding
The breeding season of the turkey vulture varies according to latitude.[63] In the southern United States, it commences in March, peaks in April to May, and continues into June.[64] In more northerly latitudes, the season starts later and extends into August.[65] Courtship rituals of the turkey vulture involve several individuals gathering in a circle, where they perform hopping movements around the perimeter of the circle with wings partially spread. In the air, one bird closely follows another while flapping and diving.[46]
Eggs are generally laid in the nesting site in a protected location such as a cliff, a cave, a rock crevice, a burrow, inside a hollow tree, or in a thicket. There is little or no construction of a nest; eggs are laid on a bare surface. Females generally lay two eggs, but sometimes one and rarely three. The eggs are cream-colored, with brown or lavender spots around their larger end.
Feeding
The turkey vulture feeds primarily on a wide variety of
The turkey vulture forages by smell, an ability that is uncommon in the avian world, often flying low to the ground to pick up the scent of
Relationship with humans
The turkey vulture is sometimes accused of carrying
The turkey vulture species receives special legal protections under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918 in the
References
Notes
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Bibliography
- Ffrench, R. Birds of ISBN 0-7136-6759-1
- Stiles and Skutch. A guide to the birds of Costa Rica. ISBN 0-8014-9600-4
- Kirk, D. A. and M. J. Mossman. 1998. "Turkey Vulture (Cathartes aura)". In The Birds of North America, No. 339 (A. Poole and F. Gill, eds.). The Birds of North America, Inc., Philadelphia, PA.
External links
- Turkey vultures on eNature.com
- "Turkey vulture media". Internet Bird Collection.
- Uncommon light morph turkey vulture photo
- Turkey vulture photo gallery at VIREO (Drexel University)
- Live Streaming of a Vulture Feeding Station at Selu Conservancy, Radford, Virginia.