Turkey Vulture
Cathartes aura
Photo: kasabubu · Pixabay · Pixabay Content License (licence)
Call and song
Recording 1 · alarm call, call, hatchling or nestling
Recording 2
Recording 3
About the Turkey Vulture
Large raptor. Appears dark from a distance. Up close, dark brown above with bare red head. In flight, undersides of wings are two-toned; lighter on the entire trailing edge of the wing, opposed to just wingtips on Black Vulture. Wings are held slightly raised when soaring, making a "V" when seen head-on. Tends to wobble in flight. Wingbeats slower and deeper than Black Vulture. Glides relatively low while sniffing for carrion, or riding thermals to higher vantage points. Also huddles around roadkill or dumpsters.
Species account: eBird.org, fetched 2025-12-26 · How these pages are made
Where it has been recorded
Recorded in 44 of the 253 countries we have eBird lists for. Each opens that country's checklist.
- Argentina
- Aruba
- Bahamas
- Belize
- Bermuda
- Bolivia
- Brazil
- Canada
- Cayman Islands
- Chile
- Colombia
- Costa Rica
- Cuba
- Curaçao
- Dominican Republic
- Ecuador
- El Salvador
- Falkland Islands (Malvinas)
- France
- French Guiana
- Guatemala
- Guyana
- Haiti
- Honduras
- Italy
- Jamaica
- Japan
- Mexico
- Nicaragua
- Panama
- Paraguay
- Peru
- Portugal
- Puerto Rico
- Saint Kitts and Nevis
- Spain
- Suriname
- Switzerland
- Trinidad and Tobago
- United Kingdom
- United States
- Uruguay
- Venezuela
- Virgin Islands (U.S.)
