Our Visitor

When I was driving home from some errands yesterday I saw something up in our tree. I couldn't figure out what it was at first. As I got closer I realized it was a bird....and a big one at that. I went inside and grabbed Paul to come look, with the camera.

This was our visitor today, he's a Turkey Vulture.





Wikipedia:
The Turkey Vulture received its common name from the resemblance of the adult's bald red head and its dark plumage to that of the male Wild Turkey, while the name "vulture" is derived from the Latin word vulturus, meaning "tearer," and is a reference to its feeding habits.

A large bird, it has a wingspan of 170–183 cm (67–72 in), a length of 64–81 cm (25–32 in), and weight of 0.85–2.26 kg (1.9–5 lb).[4][5][6][7] It has dark brown to black plumage; a featherless, purplish-red head and neck; and a short, hooked, ivory-colored beak. Its life expectancy in the wild ranges upward of 16 years.

The Turkey Vulture is a scavenger and feeds almost exclusively on carrion. It finds its meals using its keen vision and sense of smell, flying low enough to detect the gasses produced by the beginnings of the process of decay in dead animals. In flight, it uses thermals to move through the air, flapping its wings infrequently. It roosts in large community groups. Lacking a syrinx—the vocal organ of birds—its only vocalizations are grunts or low hisses. It nests in caves, hollow trees, or thickets. Each year it generally raises two chicks, which it feeds by regurgitation.[12] It has very few natural predators. In the United States of America, the vulture receives legal protection under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918.