Diet
The turkey vulture is a
scavenger. It only eats
carrion. It soars over the land looking for dead animals. It flies at low altitudes with its wings in a V-shaped angle called a
dihedral. As it flies, it rocks from side-to-side instead of flapping its wings. This saves energy and allows the turkey vulture to stay in the air longer. It also glides on
thermals or updrafts of air.
It has excellent eyesight and a keen sense of smell that helps it locate rotting meat. Its sense of smell is a unique
adaptation for a bird. Because the turkey vulture doesn't hunt and kill its food, its legs and claws are weaker than those of most birds. The turkey vulture's bald head helps keep dead meat, along with the bacteria it carries, from collecting in the vulture's feathers while it is digging into an animal carcass. The turkey vulture, unlike the
black vulture, usually hunts for food alone.
Life Cycle
The female turkey vulture lays
1-2 eggs under a bush, in a hollow log, under large rocks, or in a cave.
Both the male and the female incubate the eggs for 28 days. Both parents feed the chicks regurgitated food. The chicks fledge when they are 9-10 weeks old.
Behavior
The turkey vulture urinates on its legs. The urine cools the vulture and the acids in the urine kill any bacteria that collected on the vulture's legs when it was stepping in carcasses. The turkey vulture plays an important role in its ecosystem by removing dead animals that could be carrying diseases!
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