Turkey vultures are a common sight in the skies across much of North America But despite their large numbers, these birds are federally protected under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act This means it is illegal to harm, kill or possess turkey vultures without a permit. But why are turkey vultures specially protected, even when they cause problems near livestock and homes? The reasons have to do with their unique ecological role.
Turkey Vultures Are Nature’s Clean-Up Crew
Turkey vultures provide a very important service in the natural world – they clean up carrion (dead animals). As scavengers, their entire diet consists of locating and consuming animal remains.
Without vultures performing this function, animal carcasses would decompose slowly across the landscape potentially spreading bacteria and disease. Turkey vultures help control these risks by quickly ridding areas of dead carcasses.
Given their valuable “clean-up crew” job, protecting turkey vultures helps maintain a healthy ecosystem. Their scavenging prevents health hazards that could otherwise affect wildlife, livestock and humans.
Vultures Have Specialized Adaptations for a Carrion Diet
Turkey vultures have evolved highly specialized traits and behaviors to consume carrion:
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Excellent Sense of Smell – They can detect gaseous chemicals from dead animals up to a mile away. This helps them efficiently find carcasses.
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Hearty Digestive System – Their guts contain corrosive stomach acid that allows them to safely digest rotting meat filled with bacteria and toxins fatal to other animals.
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Immunity to Illness – Turkey vultures have a strong natural immunity to many pathogens and parasites from decaying animals that would sicken other scavengers.
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Bald Head – Their bald red head allows them to feed messily inside carcasses and easily clean themselves afterwards.
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Soaring Flight – Turkey vultures are well adapted for soaring long distances in search of scattered carrion sources. This maximizes the area they can scan.
These unique adaptations make turkey vultures unmatched as carrion scavengers. Protecting them ensures these efficient waste-disposal services remain intact.
Vultures Prevent Disease Transmission to Livestock
Livestock operations receive important benefits from turkey vultures. When vultures quickly consume dead animals in fields, they prevent the spread of contagious diseases like anthrax and brucellosis that could infect healthy livestock nearby.
Farmers have noticed the importance of vultures – areas without turkey vultures present higher rates of disease transmission among cattle herds and increased death losses. So their scavenging provides a natural disease barrier.
Absence of Vultures Can Lead to Public Health Issues
When vulture populations decline or disappear from an area, the consequences for public health can be severe. This happened in India when the common Oriental white-backed vulture suffered a catastrophic decline in the 1990s.
With no vultures left to eat animal carcasses, India saw an explosion in uncontrolled rotting remains. The result was a surge in growth of disease-causing feral dogs who developed resistance to rabies vaccines. This led to an estimated 48,000 extra human deaths from rabies transmitted by these dogs.
This example shows the importance of intact vulture populations to prevent infectious disease. Their scavenging curbs expansion of disease reservoirs.
Turkey Vultures Form Important Links in Food Webs
As scavengers, turkey vultures are key connectors in ecological food chains. They convert waste from already-deceased animals into energy and nutrients that then nourish other living components of the ecosystem.
For example, after vultures scavenge remains, their leftover bones provide calcium and minerals to other wildlife. And when vultures eventually die, their own carcasses are consumed by predators and insects.
This cycling of energy originating from dead animals is crucial for sustaining ecosystems. So protecting turkey vultures helps maintain the balance of food web interactions.
Do Turkey Vultures Directly Attack Live Animals?
While turkey vultures prefer to feed on already dead carcasses, some rare reports have emerged of them directly attacking vulnerable livestock. However, these cases appear uncommon.
More often, accumulated droppings and disturbance from groups of roosting vultures near farms cause greater issues. Their scavenging behavior remains beneficial overall.
The utter reliance of turkey vultures on scavenging helps explain why direct attacks are highly unusual. Unlike predatory raptors, turkey vultures have weak feet and talons unsuited for killing prey. This demonstrates carrion naturally forms their diet.
Nuisance Vultures Can Be Deterred Without Harm
Despite their protected status, turkey vultures causing problems around homes or farms can legally be dispersed without killing or injuring them using deterrent techniques like:
- Loud noises from propane cannons or other devices
- Hanging effigies of dead vultures
- Removing food attractants like open garbage cans
- Overhead lines or wires to make roosting sites uncomfortable
- Rotating livestock carcasses quickly to limit attractions
The key is making the area continually less desirable so vultures abandon it for better sites. This solves issues without violating regulations against harming migratory birds.
Conservation Concerns for Turkey Vultures
While turkey vulture populations remain relatively robust, they face some emerging conservation threats:
- Collisions with vehicles and aircraft
- Ingestion of lead ammunition fragments in carcasses
- Habitat loss
- Illegal shooting and poisoning by people perceiving them as nuisances
Continued legal protections can help offset these risks and ensure stable future vulture populations able to provide vital ecological services. Their scavenging role makes protecting turkey vultures an investment in public and environmental health.
Frequently Asked Questions
What law protects turkey vultures?
Turkey vultures are federally protected under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, which makes harming or killing them illegal without permits. They are also covered under state wildlife and game laws.
How much do turkey vulture populations help control disease?
Studies show areas with abundant vulture populations have far lower rates of infectious diseases like anthrax and rabies compared to places where vulture numbers have declined. Their scavenging is a major natural disease control.
Besides finding carcasses, what else attracts turkey vultures?
Turkey vultures also congregate near sources of thermals and updrafts which allow them to soar and glide efficiently. Cliff faces and ridges often provide helpful wind patterns, as do dark asphalt roads.
Do turkey vultures play a role in Egyptian mythology?
Yes, ancient Egyptians viewed vultures like the turkey vulture as protective symbols representing motherhood. Vulture imagery was associated with several Egyptian goddesses.
How long do turkey vultures live in the wild?
The typical lifespan is 10 to 15 years, but the oldest known turkey vulture in the wild was over 30 years old. Their scavenger diet exposes them to harsh bacteria, but their hardy immune system allows impressive longevity.
Conclusion
“How I live there”
Turkey vultures are commonly sighted near roadways, open areas such as farms and countryside, and in places where garbage and food are plentiful such as trash heaps, dumps, landfills, and construction sites. At night, they roost in trees or on rock ledges and other high places (including roofs). They often roost in large groups and migrate in even larger groups that may number in the thousands.
First thing in the morning, you may see turkey vultures standing with outstretched wings, presumably warming or drying them in the sun. During the day, they forage for food either on their own or in small groups. They look for carrion and almost never attack live prey. They tend to congregate near dumpsters and roadkill. More than one turkey vulture may gather at a carcass but they take turns feeding, with one chasing others off until it has had its fill. Other species of vulture and raptor may also turn up and, despite their large size, turkey vultures are easily intimidated by competing scavengers.
New World vultures–those from North and South America–are either bald or have very few feathers on their heads. This adaptation allows them to clean themselves more efficiently after scavenging raw meat. All vultures also have strong stomach enzymes and apparently excellent immune systems that allow them to digest rotting meat without contracting botulism or other bacterial illnesses.
If you look up in the sky and see a huge bird that you think might be an eagle but you notice that it is making wobbly circles with its broad wings raised in a V, it is most likely a turkey vulture. Soaring low to the ground or up high on heat thermals, turkey vultures use their keen senses of sight and smell to detect fresh carcasses on the ground, even those that are not visible from the air. The part of their brains dedicated to processing smell is known to be exceptionally large compared to other birds.
The word vulture probably comes from the Latin vellere, which means to pluck or to tear. The scientific name for turkey vulture is more pleasantly poetic. Cathartesaura means “golden purifier.” The colloquial term for vulture in the U.S. is “buzzard.”
Turkey vultures have few natural predators. They can suffer persecution by people who consider them a nuisance or, misguidedly, carriers of disease. (Vultures actually help reduce rather than promote disease.) They can also be poisoned by ingesting meat contaminated by poison or lead shot.
Turkey vultures will feed and roost near humans but prefer to nest in remote, undisturbed areas. They seek out protected rock crevices, caves, hollow logs, fallen trees, or abandoned mammal burrows, nests, or buildings. They do not build nests; rather, females scrape out a slight depression. They lay 1-3 eggs per clutch and incubate the eggs for 28-40 days. After hatching, chicks will stay in the nest for up to 3 months and both parents will care for them. Even after chicks have fledged, family groups will stay together for a few more months. Juveniles are easily recognized by their dark heads and beaks.
Turkey vultures are currently listed as a species of “least concern” by the IUCN, the world’s leading conservation organization. Their population declined during the 20th century, due in part to exposure to the fertilizer DDT, but turkey vultures have since made a comeback across their entire range. They are protected by state law in Maryland and by the federal Migratory Bird Act of 1918. It is illegal to take, kill, or possess a turkey vulture in the U.S., and these birds are protected by similar laws in Canada and Mexico.
- Kingdom: Animalia
- Phylum: Chordata
- Subphylum: Vertebrata
- Class: Aves
- Order: Accipitriformes
- Family: Cathartidae
- Genera: Cathartes
- Species: aura
When threatened, turkey vultures protect themselves by hissing and vomiting powerful stomach acids.
North, Central, and South America
Up to 16 yrs
2‑3.5 ft Wingspan: About 6 ft
Turkey vultures are birds of the Americas, ranging from coast to coast and from southern Canada all the way to the southern tip of South America. The species is native to Maryland.