Turkey Vultures

Here are 2 different looks at Turkey Vultures.

When you see them without their wings spread, Turkey Vultures can fool you into thinking their plumage is all black, but when they open them up (or you see them soaring overhead) you can see that's not really true. Seeing them from below you can easily see the feathers at the end of their wings (flight feathers) are much lighter than the near-black plumage we see when the wings are closed. Although many times those light-colored flight feathers look more like a light gray rather than the near-white color in this picture, I'm not sure how much this is due to individual variance and how much is due to the lighting. But this pattern where the flight feathers are much lighter than the rest of the wings is an excellent indicator of a Turkey Vulture (not a Bald Eagle).

May 18, 2023 at Fairview Farm
Photo 292810623, (c) jpviolette, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC)		  

Here's another Turkey Vulture where the flight feathers look darker, though (maybe with a little imagination) be able to detect that the flight feathers are lighter than the rest of the wings. This vulture also appears to be missing some of its flight feathers. My understanding is that Turkey Vultures are supposed to do a long, slow molt, molting the flight feathers in sequence, and shouldn't be missing more than 1-3 flight feathers at any point in time, though this individual seems to have more missing and/or short flight feathers than I'd expect. Note that the head doesn't appear to be red, suggesting this Turkey Vulture might be under a year old. It's possible that its unusual molting is something that juvenile Turkey Vultures have to go through.

May 18, 2023 at Willowwood Arboretum
Photo 292812552, (c) jpviolette, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC)


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Northern Watersnake

Image
This April I went to Great Swamp National Wildlife Refuge with the hope (among other hopes) of seeing the Northern Watersnakes during mating season. There were 2 problems with this: I think it was slightly late in the season for this. The boardwalk trail where I had seen them in the past was partially closed due to repairs. So although I didn't see any of the 2+ intertwined snakes that I'd seen in the past, but there were still Northern Watersnakes warming themselves in the sun: April 13, 2023 at Great Swamp Photo 272117862, (c) jpviolette, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC) And here's another one coming out of the water. April 13, 2023 at Great Swamp Photo 272119139, (c) jpviolette, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC)
Read more

Female Brown-headed Cowbird

Image
Like quite a few birds, this bird is easier to identify when spotted with her significant other ; she's a Brown-headed Cowbird . Due to their tendency to be monogamous plus plain old birds-of-a-feather behavior, I usually see them with prominently brown-headed males around, greatly improving my confidence in IDing them. My understanding is that Brown-headed Cowbirds are the only obligate brood parasites in my area. Obligate brood parasites have essentially lost all their parenting skills, and thus if they were ever unable to fool other birds into raising their young, they would (almost certainly) go extinct [1]. There are, however, other brood parasites in New Jersey. These are called facultative brood parasites, and these birds will usually raise their own offspring, but will also engage in brood parasitism. (Exactly when birds perform facultative brood parasitism seems variable; one source said it occurred when resources were scarce while another said it occurred when resource
Read more

Rooftop Turkey Vultures

Image
I met these Turkey Vultures by just walking out of my apartment. (I theoretically could have gotten a picture without going outside, but that extra layer of glass can degrade picture quality a little.) Although they don't show up on these rooftops daily, they're not an uncommon visitor to my apartment complex. Similar to this spot of the woods , I wouldn't expect this to be a great place to find carcasses. I'm thinking they're here mostly because: They don't have to worry much about predators up there. They get a pretty good view of the area in case something should happen to succumb. (This apartment was near the top of a hill, providing a better view than most of the other apartments.) Since this picture was from February, it's probably a slightly warmer spot, especially near those furnace vent pipes. Although these are Turkey Vultures, it's also not unusual to see Black Vultures up there too. February 28, 2023 at Finderne Photo 264703396, (c) jpviole
Read more