Turkey vultures are refuse collectors

By Al Lowe
Contributor

This is the ugliest bird we have in Ontario. There are uglier ones on other continents.
Our vultures are mostly thought of as black, although if you get close up, they turn out to be a dark, sooty brown. Head and neck are bear are red, much like that head of a tom turkey - hence the name - Turkey Vulture. The scientific name is Cathartes aura.
These ugly birds do have one habit which makes them very useful in the world. They are the world's garbage collectors. They live almost entirely on carrion - dead things. When they are not nesting, or feeding, they soar high in the sky. Their amazing eyesight enables them to find anything which is dead or dying. If an animal appears to be in very poor condition, they will land and walk around it. If it doesn't move, they will poke at it, and only then will they start to eat.
The eyes of a dead animal are always eaten first - they must be the 'caviar' of the vulture world. Next are the intestines, and then the real meat. Vultures have an uncanny ability to locate dead things very shortly after they die. One hunter said that it was amazing how fast they appear after you shoot an alligator, and also how fast that alligator is reduced to a skeleton and a few teeth.
However they find it, they will eat almost any kind of dead meat, even skunks. In the old days, they were handy around the farm. Any animals which died could be cleaned up quite quickly. If you gutted a pig or steer, they vultures would gladly consume the entrails, and any other leftovers. With skunks, they are very careful to start at the head end, and they always stop before they get to the scent glands.
Vultures nest in many different locations. Some build in trees, and the nests are enormous. Other build in holes in the ground, old bear dens, for instance. Young birds are fed by regurgitation. When you consider what the parents eat, you can make a good guess as to how the nest area smells. To a vulture, dead and rotting flesh is like roast beef.
One of the pleasant things about vultures is the way they soar. Their wings are long and broad. They truly soar, setting those big wings to take advantage of the smallest of air currents. They can go for miles without flapping a wing, and they often do so at 5000 or 6000 feet.
Here is an oddity about them. They are silent most of the time, but they do hiss. Among themselves, they hiss very gently, but if they are annoyed, or disturbed, a vulture can hiss like a big snake. They also make low grunts.
These birds are surprisingly docile. If you come across one standing or sitting on a rock, you can usually go over to it and pick it up. But be careful if you do, because the bird will usually throw up! After that, you may want to have a shower.
In captivity, they are very friendly birds. They will rub against you like a cat, and favour you with low, friendly hissing sounds.
Another virture they have is patience. If they come across a big dead animal like a horse or a cow, the skin may be too tough for their rather weak beaks to tear, they will wait around for days, till the skin rots a bit, and they can get at the good stuff underneath.
The Turkey Vulture is not only ugly, but he sure is strange, too.