The winner of today’s photography challenge is the turkey vulture. While I was on my walk this weekend, there were quite a few that were soaring overhead and I actually managed to get a couple of decent pictures of at least two of them.

Since turkey vultures are scavengers, they can be seen soaring overhead in the suburbs, out in the country over farm fields and even around different areas such as landfills, construction site and even trash heaps. They’re early risers, they will roost together in large numbers on telephone poles, towers, fence posts, and dead trees. I might have to try taking a walk near dusk and see if I can spot any roosting around the neighborhood (as we live close enough to some farm land) in the evenings.

One weird fact for the turkey vulture—it can be found in part of the state (Oklahoma) year-round, and then other part of the state only during the spring-fall months (basically the breeding season). We’re in the part of the state that only sees them from spring to fall.

Another interesting little fact—they try to ensure that their nests are isolated and away from any potential human contact. They will nest in caves, abandoned bird nests (namely hawks and herons), and even abandoned buildings. They also only have partial nests (they never actually finish building the nest).

While they currently aren’t listed as an endangered species they do face some threats from humans that impact their numbers. At times they do fall victim to lead poisoning (due to eating carcasses of animals that were shot by hunters but got away from the hunters), also victim to poisoning (if they eat the carcass of an animal that had been poisoned by humans). Also they have been trapped and killed due to the misconception that they spread disease by eating rotting meat.

Reference:

https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Turkey_Vulture/overview

https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Turkey_Vulture/lifehistory