Wild Bird Wednesday

Link to Wild Bird Wednesday #61

 

The Turkey Vulture

The Turkey Vulture is the only regular vulture visitor in our area.  They used to be a rare sighting, but now they are common.  Seeing a Turkey Vulture floating, souring, rocking, swooping and climbing is the harbinger of spring (not death as some people fear)  and that makes them a welcome sight  ... I  have to admit, I get excited when I see them return from their winter hiatus to warmer country.

 

 

The Turkey Vulture ( Cathartes aura, which means either “golden purifier” or “purifying breeze.” ) is a New World Vulture which some believe is more closely related to the Stork than the Raptors,  but is still classified as a Raptor.  The Turkey Vulture shares in all of the characteristics that I listed on my Vulture Awareness Day post last Saturday (here) if you are interested  in the fun details.  They however do set themselves apart because they have the best sense of smell of all of the Vultures which is what they use to locate carrion.   The part of their brain responsible for processing smells is particularly large which heightens their ability to detect odors. They can detect just a few parts per trillion—allowing them to to follow a scent as far away as ten miles or find dead animals below a forest canopy.  Other Vultures often follow the Turkey Vulture around because they know they are the best at finding food.  Some scientists are looking into the possibilty of using them to locate bodies in missing person cases.

 

The Turkey Vulture is shy and is often bullied off his food  by other Vultures or carrion eating predators.  When eating in their own group, one eats at a time , chasing the others off and making them wait their turn.  They are also sun lovers, often seen  standing erect with their wings spread in the sun, presumably to warm up.

 

 

It's time to talk about Junior.  Junior was one of two resident Turkey Vultures at the Rehab Facility where I worked for years.  Senior was the bigger of the two and never habituated to his human care takers so he was not used as an education bird. 

 

Juniors story is a sad, but all too frequent story.  He ate carrion that had been left behind by a hunter ... it contained lead shot.  He developed lead poisoning and because he was so sick he couldn't migrate when it turned cold.  When he was found and brought to us, in additon to the lead poisoning, he had frost bite in both feet.  We treated him and he survived, but he lost most of his toes and talons on both feet.  Obviously he couldn't be released to the wild. 

 

Junior was wild and anyone who had to retrieve him from his mew knew that he remained  wild.  With hissing and occasionally vomit, he would jump from perch to perch to avoid you ... then after a bit, he would sit and allow us to put his jesses on and take him on glove.  He had became habituated to his care givers and once on the glove he would interact with us (Turkey Vultures are social in the wild).  He was actually playful and couldn't resist a good game of tug of war or just snatching at the toys we had for him.  

 His favorite was Tug of War ... because he always won :)

 As soon as you walked out into the sun with him on glove, he would spread his wings wide and you could almost see the pleasure on his face. 

 (I know, anthropomorphising again). 

 Anybody who knew Junior learned to love and respect the Turkey Vulture.  I still miss him and I think if I could choose my totum, it would be a Turkey Vulture in his honor.  He will always remain close to my heart ...

 

Junior was a favorite in the education programs ... especially with the young boys who loved that he would vomit on  his enemies and urinate on his feet.  "Gross!" they would say, with a big smile on their face ... Boys will always be boys :)

In the winter, his mew was heated and during the day we would let him come in and sun in one of the classrooms.

 

The hole, that goes all the way through allows, the air to pass through.  The Turkey vultur has special receptors in the lining of his nose that allows him to smell  the unique sulphurous chemical compounds of decaying meat.

Junior was a handsome boy in my eyes ... I hope you have learned from him and found a new respect for the wonderful Turkey Vulture ... He cleans your world and prevents the spread of disease.