These soaring birds take to the sky on a daily basis when the air warms up enough to provide them with “thermals” – currents of warm air that flow upward. New world vultures are usually found in flocks although they don’t nest in colonies. At a few sites in the southwest it shares the skies with the very rare California Condor.Īlthough the Black Vulture and the California Condor are non-migratory, many populations of Turkey Vultures make annual migrations in huge flocks to Central and South America. In the southeastern United States, it is joined by the Black Vulture. The most widespread species is the Turkey Vulture, a common bird in much of the United States and southern Canada. New world vultures in North America are found in most habitats except for the boreal zone and high mountains. The heads of new world vultures lack feathers and can be black, red, yellow, or orange. Being scavengers of decaying flesh, their thin, hooked beaks and feet with sort talons aren’t as strong as those of raptors that catch live prey.īlack is the predominant color of vulture plumage although some species show a bit of gray or white in the wings, the exception being the mostly white King Vulture of tropical regions. New world vultures are large birds with short to medium length tails, and long, broad wings adapted for soaring (the California Condor actually has the largest wingspan of any living North American bird). In the case of the Turkey Vulture, it’s amazing sense of smell is used to find dead animals. Members of the Cathartidae are known for their keen ability to locate carrion, their primary food source. Among these are the Turkey Vulture and the huge California Condor. There are five species of new world vultures in four genera found in North America. The Cathartidae (pronounced kath-ART-uh-dee) is a family composed of seven species of vultures in five genera that occur in North and South America. There are five families in the taxonomic order FALCONIFORMES (pronounced fal-kon-ih-FOR-meez), an order of raptorial birds that includes the Osprey, hawks, eagles, and vultures (it should be noted that these birds are alternately classified in an order named ACCIPITRIFORMES (pronounced ak-sip-it-ruh-FOR-meez) by some ornithological authorities).
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