Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, June 24, 1990 TAG: 9006210142
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: E5 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Patricia C. Held
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
A description of the turkey vulture is far from elegant. Imagine a creature with blackish-brown feathers, a long hooked beak, a red neck and wrinkled, naked skin on its head. It brings to mind visions of witches and goblins.
But its agility in the sky all but makes up for the bird's ugly appearance. A turkey vulture in flight can only be described as graceful and rhythmic as it glides. With a wingspan of up to 6 feet, this large, dark bird with a silver lining creates a striking sight as it soars in wide circles across the sky.
In flight, the turkey vulture rarely flaps its wings. Instead it soars like a glider plane, its weight supported by rising columns of warm air set in motion by the sun.
Sometimes called a turkey buzzard, this bird is not at all related to the buzzard family. In the United States its closest relatives are the black vultures, also found in our area, and the almost extinct California condor of the West Coast.
The turkey vulture and the black vulture can be distinguished in flight by their size. The black vulture is slightly smaller. It also has a black head and distinct white patches underneath its wings, which it holds horizontally.
In contrast, the turkey vulture is a very large bird with a broad wingspan. Its red skin makes it closely resemble the gobbler it was named for. The bird holds its wings above the horizontal in a shallow V when flying and can also be distinguished by light-colored trailing wing-edges and its habit of soaring on thermal currents in enormous circles.
A truly national bird, the turkey vulture's range extends throughout the United States and southern Canada. Known for its gregarious behavior, it prefers to roost and feed with other turkey vultures. What a sight it is to see a mass of these huge vultures perched among the branches of a dead tree!
Turkey vultures nest in wooded areas, often in tangled brush or in rock crevices. Two eggs are laid, and upon hatching the young are pure-white balls of fluff. Only after they have grown black-and-brown feathers do the young emerge from the safety of their nests.
According to various folk beliefs, the turkey vulture can bring babies, catch thieves, forecast the weather, cure ailments and diseases and predict good and evil fortunes. Its feathers, if properly worn, are charms against rheumatism and fever. And its flight over a house may herald the coming of visitors or death.
Today the turkey vulture is probably best known for its food preferences - dead and decaying flesh. While it is a meat eater, the bird lacks the strong talons of the predatory birds. It is too weak to kill on its own, so it must feed upon dead animals.
The vulture's digestive juices are strong enough that the bird remains unaffected by poisons and disease that may be in its meal. Thus the turkey vulture does not transmit disease. Instead, it purifies and recycles the food it eats.
Turkey vultures certainly don't rank in beauty with the bluebird or in grace with the delicate hummingbird. They aren't as regal as our eagles, nor can they sing with the genius of the wood thrush.
But the turkey vulture does have its place of high rank. Because it keeps our landscape clean and free of unwanted debris, the turkey vulture fulfills a very important environmental function. It fits into nature's plan of interdependence of all living things.
Patricia Held will respond to readers' questions on the plant and animal wildlife in the region. Mail inquiries to: Patricia C. Held, P.O. Box 65, Goode, Va. 24556.
by CNB