Monday, March 08, 2010

Turkey Vulture in Flight


After seeing the first Turkey Vulture of the season this past Thursday, I keep seeing more reports on Facebook, Twitter, and the Ohio Birds Listserv of turkey vultures. Here is one of our early arrivals gliding above the water of Thoreau Pond at Blendon Woods.

For those of you that are new to studying large gliding birds, the give-away for turkey vultures is the two-toned aspect of the undersides of their wings. The red bald head, if you can see it, is also distinctive. Look for these things on a turkey vulture coming soon to you.

Tom

7 comments:

  1. Beautiful shot.Their wing span is impressive.
    Blessings,Ruth

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  2. I got a nice shot of a soaring turkey vulture from a viewing tower over a Nat'l forest once. They're so beautiful, in their own way.

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  3. What y'all may not know is that, down here in FL, momma 'possums, 'coons, skunks, foxes etc have kicked out of the nest all of last year's young to make way for this year's births. Many of last year's young were killed this winter on our highways, and their corpses subsequently eaten by local and migratory vultures. Similarly, cattle in our warmer clime probably calved earlier than those in Ohio, again their stillbirths and afterbirths helping to sustain northern vulture winter transients.

    The winter road slaughter and calving are essentially over here, so the migrants have flown back north. But this is not to put a damper on your blog; rather, I aim merely to flesh out the migratory story. Your ceiling is our floor. The South's ecology needs the North's vultures to clean house, and the North's vultures need the South's carrion to survive the winter.

    We are One.

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  4. Ruth- Thanks. The wing span is really quite wide, isn't it?

    Lana- Yes, they really are, when they're soaring above us. Not so much when though when they're eating, for example, the roadkill of florida.

    Thanks Tom!

    Buford- You get the prize for the most ecologically insightful and hilarious comment ever posted at The Ohio Nature Blog. Well done. It's quite interesting to think about them migrating north as more food resources become available.

    Tom

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  5. Yup, those familiar wings. I just heard on Vermont Public Radio that the turkey vultures are out in their favorite hunting grounds on the interstate somewhere. It's a sign of spring. I should drive out and photograph them! Maybe I could get a shot like yours.

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  6. Andree- If you do, I'd like to see it.

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