Turkey Vulture Visit
For today's #featheredfriday I am sharing some photos of a Turkey Vulture (Cathartes aura) that visited down the street by my apartment the other day.
I was driving home from the dentist and the large raptor was impossible to miss, sitting conspicuously on a streetlamp. I ran upstairs , grabbed my camera, and then ran right back down.
There were actually three at one point, circling above the creek and a neighboring house undergoing some kind of construction. One kept going back and forth across the street, which is the one I took photos of.
Turkey vultures have a very strong sense of smell, which they use to locate carrion. They are a crucial part of the food web!
I enjoyed observing this guy, and he was interested in observing me. Or maybe she - turkey vultures are not sexually dimorphic so I couldn't tell.
Thank you for hosting #featheredfriday, @melinda010100!
Great pictures! I don't often see them perched like that. I do appreciate the work they do to keep our world cleaned up! Thanks for posting these to #featheredfriday!
We have a big flock up in South Dakota in our city park. They head out when winter rolls in. It's really cool to watch them gliding overhead.
It is cool to see a bunch together! This past spring I saw at least 30 feeding on a dead cow, but usually I'll only see one to three at a time.
What a funny huge bird! And really half turkey, half vulture.
I approve of this ornithological posts.
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