The roosts range in size from a few birds to several thousand. Turkey Vultures are often seen standing in a spread-winged stance - called the "horaltic pose.
Groups of vultures spiraling upward to gain altitude are called "kettles". As vultures catch thermal updrafts they take on the appearance of water boiling in a pot — hence the name kettle.
During the hot weather, turkey vultures will defecate on their feet to cool them off. Since a vulture's digestive juices kill bacteria--which is why vultures don't get sick from eating rotten meat--defecating on their legs might even work as an antiseptic wash. Their method of self-defense is to vomit their food, which they can send sailing 10 feet.
If a turkey vulture is disturbed or harassed, it will throw up on the animal who is bothering it. Even the vulture babies will vomit on other animals. Though these behaviors might distress people, they serve turkey vultures well.
Vulture vomit is an effective predator repellent. Did you know? A Turkey Vulture live up to 20 years in the wild. People mistakenly call turkey vultures, buzzards, which is the British name for certain hawks.
Turkey Vulture Silhouette Animal silhouettes available to purchase ». Vultures are one of the most misunderstood and least appreciated birds in the avian world.
Many of the opinions formed by people are based on the way vultures are portrayed in movies and cartoons. A lot of you probably believe that when vultures are circling overhead, they are waiting for an animal to die.
Vultures certainly circle, and can soar for up to six hours without flapping, but they are simply using the thermals to move from place to place. Another belief that some people have is that they are dirty, disgusting birds, when in fact, if there is a water source available, most vultures will enjoy a bath after a meal.
Even vultures like their meat fairly fresh, and often by the fourth day, they will not feed on carrion because the meat is too rotten. Some people find vultures ugly because of their almost bald head, but does that make them ugly? There are certainly a lot of bald men walking around, and some are bald by choice, does that make them ugly? Just try to picture a bird with a feathered head, reaching down inside a carcass.
Now that would be ugly! Not only do vultures not pick up many food scraps on their head, what they do pick up will easily wash off, or bake off in the sun. Below are six of my favorite interesting facts about vultures, which I hope will help to convince you that vultures are truly fascinating and wonderful birds. But did you know that they can also prevent diseases? Their stomach acids are so strong that they can feed on animals that have died from such things as botulism, anthrax, salmonella, and cholera without causing the vulture to become ill.
In fact, their stomach acids actually kill the bacteria and toxins! If a group of vultures consume an infected carcass, the harmful bacteria or toxin is destroyed so that it can no longer spread to other animals or humans. They can smell the gasses coming off dead animals from, possibly, as far away as five miles. As you look at Suli, our turkey vulture, you will see a structure that most people think is one large nostril. This is not a nostril, however. It is a bony structure that protects her nostrils from getting food in them as the vulture feeds.
They actually have two nostrils, located just above this opening. If a vulture puts its head down inside a carcass, and gets bits of meat or fat scraps in this opening, the vulture can easily pick it out with a talon.
While soaring it holds the wings slightly up in a V-shape. The wingspan extends to cm in. This species is common in the lower forest zones and the western steppe zones on the eastern Cascades. It nests in small caves or ledges on high cliffs in these regions. What they eat : Turkey Vultures eat a wide variety of carrion, from small mammals to dead cows.
Also some insects, other invertebrates, and some fruit are consumed. Nesting: The is no nest structure. The female Turkey Vulture lays 1 to 3 eggs directly on ground in caves, crevices, mammal burrows, hollow logs, under fallen trees, or in abandoned buildings.
The eggs are creamy-white with dark blotches around large end. Behavior: Turkey vultures are almost exclusively scavengers Cathartes means "purifier" , so this species rarely kills small animals. They form communal roosts which facilitate group foraging and social interactions.
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