Turkey Vulture

Cathartes aura
STANFORD LOCATIONS:

Common visitor seen soaring above campus year-round, occasionally feeding on dead animals along roads or in freshly disked areas.
  
Nest
Location
Nest
Type
Eggs
Mating System
Dev.
Parental Care
Primary &
2ndary Diet
Foraging
Strategy
NO NEST
MF
I: 38-41 DAYS
SEMIALTRICIAL 2
SNAG
0 - 20+ feet
  
2
(1-3)
MONOG
F: 66-88 DAYS
MF
BREEDING: Open habitats in both lowlands and mountains. 1 brood.
DISPLAYS: Courtship includes following-flights with male(?) occ diving at female.
NEST: Also in cave (esp in w) or in hollow stump with narrow entrance. Rarely a minimal nest of raked stones, dry leaves, wood chips.
EGGS: White, occ marked with brown. 2.8" (71 mm).
DIET: Virtually any dead animal down to size of tadpole. Young fed regurgitant.
CONSERVATION: Winters s to Bahamas, throughout C.A., Greater Antilles and S.A. Blue List 1972, 1980, Special Concern 1981-82, Local Concern 1986; reportedly decreasing in s Great Plains and parts of s. Eggshell thinning still a widespread problem.
NOTES: Experimental evidence suggests carrion found by sight and scent. In contrast to Black Vulture, does not renest if clutch destroyed. Young brooded continuously for 5 days by both parents. Roost communally throughout year.
ESSAYS: Soaring; Avian Sense of Smell; Spread-Wing Postures; Blue List; Temperature Regulation; Communal Roosting.
REFERENCES: Clark and Ohmart, 1985; Stager, 1964; Wilbur and Jackson, 1983.

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Except for Stanford Locations, the material in this species treatment is taken, with permission, from The Birder's Handbook (Paul Ehrlich, David Dobkin, & Darryl Wheye, Simon & Schuster, NY. 1988).