TURKEY VULTURES

     During many summer mid-mornings, when I lived along Rohrerstown Road in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, I saw several turkey vultures soar up effortlessly and gracefully on warm, summer breezes over a wooded hill located a quarter mile in front of our house.  Within a few minutes, those vultures rose gracefully and sailed across the sky out of sight.  Each vulture was on its way to search for carrion in fields throughout much of southeastern Pennsylvania.  And each one expends little energy while soaring for hours.   

     Today, throughout each year, I see turkey vultures soaring on high, literally everywhere; around home in New Holland, Pennsylvania, over fields in southeastern Pennsylvania, and over the lower Susquehanna River.  I even see them sailing over the expressways we take south on trips.

     Turkey vultures are large, dark-brown birds.  Young and mature birds have naked skin on their heads and necks, which is gray on immatures and red on adults.  They may appear a little ungainly on the ground, but they are masters of elegant flight in thermals of rising, warmed air, on the lightest of breezes, and in high winds.  They constantly rock from side to side to stay in control of their flights.

     Unusual among birds, turkey vultures have an excellent sense of smell they use to detect carrion on the ground from high in he sky, even if the carcasses are hidden under vegetation.  When one vulture smells carrion, it suddenly sweeps down to the ground, or a river or lake shoreline, to feed on it.  Other vultures see that action and swoop down to share in the spoils.  

     I've often seen little groups of turkey vultures scavenging carcasses of chickens, calves, wildlife or fish in fields, and along lakes and rivers.  Each vulture plunges its head and neck into the decaying carcass to pull out viscera and softening muscles to consume.  This is why they evolved naked heads and necks. 

     Black vultures, bald eagles, red-tailed hawks, coyotes, red foxes and other creatures compete with turkey vultures for carcasses.  Turkey vultures sometimes have to wait their turn to feed on carrion.

     I have seen a few year-round, nightly roosts of turkey vultures in southeastern Pennsylvania woods, including at Mt. Gretna, in the Welsh Mountains, around the Octoraro Lake and various spots along the Susquehanna River.  The vultures start coming to roost around mid-afternoon each day.  And one can watch them leaving their nightly roosts about mid-morning the next day, weather permitting.  They usually don't hunt for food in the rain.  

     Three turkey vultures roost overnight in a little patch of trees across the street from our home in New Holland.  Some days, I see them either coming to or leaving that New Holland roost.

     Turkey vultures nest in sheltering spots on the ground in southeastern Pennsylvania woodlands, including along the rocky Susquehanna River Hills and the rugged Furnace Hills.  They pick protected places,  including under fallen logs, and in tree stumps and crevices between boulders.  I saw a turkey vulture nursery under an overhanging boulder in the Furnace Hills, with one egg in it.  

     Turkey vultures are omnipresent, year-round, in southeastern Pennsylvania, and throughout all three Americas.  They are easy to see soaring gracefully on high, while searching for carrion to ingest.    


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