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| Turkey vulture tidbits |
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Turkey vultures are not really buzzards. |
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If necessary, turkey vultures will eat vegetables and even pumpkins. |
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One of the only bird species to have a well-developed sense of smell. |
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They are 25 to 32-inches in length, weigh around 6 pounds and average a 6-foot wingspan. |
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Mostly a silent bird, they will occasionally make hissing or grunting sounds. |
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They are known to roost communally at night in large groups. |
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One of Ohio’s earliest signs of spring lacks the endearing face of a woodland wildflower or the cheery trill of a migrating songbird. But what the turkey vulture lacks in beauty and voice, it more than makes up for with promptness and personality.
These large black birds reliably return every February to the Buckeye State, their distinctive V-shaped silhouettes gracefully gliding across Ohio’s waning winter skies.
Mid-February heralded the return of turkey vultures to Lake Katharine State Nature Preserve in Jackson County. On March 15, the “Hinckley Buzzards” of Medina County were welcomed home by hundreds of cheering turkey vulture fans. Now, with the mercury inching ever higher, these feathered symbols of spring are spreading their wings all across Ohio. In fact, they can be seen in goodly numbers along the shores of Lake Erie. Sheldon Marsh State Nature Preserve and Magee Marsh State Wildlife Area, both in Ottawa County, are two great locations for spotting turkey vultures.
On sunny days, keep your eyes open as well when passing abandoned farm fields. It’s not unusual to see a group of turkey vultures on the ground, their wings extended to catch the warmth of the sun.
Turkey vultures could never be called handsome, but as Ohio’s second largest species of bird (the bald eagle is our largest) they do have a striking appearance. Their dark feathered bodies are offset by red, nearly-featherless heads a feature that helps defeat the growth of bacteria picked up while dining on decomposing animal carcasses. Other identifying features include a white, slightly hooked bill and pale, fleshy-white legs.
Unlike most other birds, turkey vultures are not early risers. They intentionally leave their roosts well after sun up to take advantage of rising warm air currents, known as thermals. Once in a thermal’s flow, turkey vultures circle higher and higher. After reaching the top of one thermal, they can be seen diving down to catch the next one all without taking a single wing beat. Ungainly on the ground and when launching from their perches, they are elegant flyers capable of soaring for several hours at very high altitudes.
Although they have excellent vision, turkey vultures rely a great deal on their well-developed senses of smell to locate food. In fact, by scent alone, they can accurately locate a decaying animal from a height of 200 feet.
Warning: the following paragraph may contain information with a high “gross-out” factor. In other words, don’t read this out loud around the dinner table!
A turkey vulture urinates on its legs both to cool off and kill any lingering bacteria it might have picked up while stepping around in its supper. When threatened, turkey vultures are known to vomit semi-digested meat with a smell so foul that it chases off any would-be predators.
While those and other habits may not win them any friends, without these birds our natural world wouldn’t be so attractive. Described by some admirers as the “sanitation workers” of the animal kingdom, turkey vultures dine almost exclusively on carrion, a.k.a. dead animals. Without these large, black birds and their undiscriminating appetites, we’d likely be confronted by endless stretches of rotting road kill.
Turkey vultures aren’t particular about where they raise their young, as long as it’s in a hidden location. They’ll construct a nest on the ground as easily as along a rocky ledge. Foregoing a traditional nest, the female vulture will scratch out an indentation in the soil and lay her eggs. Raising one brood a year, both the male and female share in the duties of incubating eggs and rearing one to three offspring.
Throughout the spring and summer you’ll likely have many opportunities to catch sight of these high-flying birds as they glide over open country, shorelines and roads. Turkey vultures will stick around in Ohio until November before soaring southward in search of warmer skies to fly.