The other night during a family meal, I jumped out of my chair and yelled for everyone to look out the window or stick their heads outside. I had just spotted more than a dozen Turkey Vultures passing over my in-laws’ house. But that was just the beginning of the parade.
They just kept coming and coming! There were more than 50 for sure, but I eventually lost the official count as I admired them coasting quietly overhead.
Turkey Vultures soar more than they flap their wings. They love to ride thermals. My friend lives close-by and she had told me recently that she sees a huge flock each evening circling over her house which is near a wooded bike trail. We think they are roosting together in the trees there each night.
I had to break the news to my father-in-law that they weren’t going to be reducing the rodent population any time soon (unless said rodents were run over by a car first). Turkey Vultures rarely attack live animals. Instead they use their amazing sense of smell to locate carrion.
And here’s a fun fact from the Cornell Lab for Ornithology’s All About Birds Website:
“Thankfully for them, vultures appear to have excellent immune systems, happily feasting on carcasses without contracting botulism, anthrax, cholera, or salmonella.”
After all the jokes and mentions in movies and cartoons about the sight of Turkey Vultures signaling that a dead body must be near by, it can be a bit unnerving to see 50 or more of them circling above your head or home at once with their jet-black, 6-foot wingspans and bald little red heads. But they are incredibly entertaining to watch!