Cathartes aura

• Interesting Facts
• Common Names
• Description
• Biology
• Taxonomy
• Similar Species
• Bibliography
• More Info
• Notes

Interesting Facts

Common Names

Click on the language to view common names.

Description

Family Ciconiidae

Large, long-legged, long-necked wading birds with long stout bills. Only 19 living species, they are all mute.

Physical Description

Habitat

Vegetation: arid lowland scrubs, pastures and agricultural lands, tropical deciduous forests, gallery forests, tropical lowland evergreen forest, second-growth forests and woodlands, tropical lowland evergreen forest, pine forests, arid lowland scrubs, low seasonally wet grasslands • Maximum Elevation: 2,500 meters • Foraging Strata: Aerial • Center of Abundance: Lower tropical: lowlands, lower than 500 m.; tropics. • Sensitivity to Disturbancet: Low

Ecology:
List of Habitats :1.5Forest - Subtropical/Tropical Dry 1.6Forest - Subtropical/Tropical Moist Lowland 1.9Forest - Subtropical/Tropical Moist Montane 3.5Shrubland - Subtropical/Tropical Dry 4.6Grassland - Subtropical/Tropical Seasonally Wet/Flooded 14.2Artificial/Terrestrial - Pastureland 14.6Artificial/Terrestrial - Subtropical/Tropical Heavily Degraded Former Forest

Biology

Diet

This species is a carrion feeder , eating almost any type of dead animal. It can be commonly seen on the roadside eating vehicle-killed animals. The Turkey Vulture uses both sight and scent to find its food. This species also creates large communal roosts, with many birds gathering in the same tree or group of trees in the evening.

Reproduction

The breeding season begins in March, peaks from April to May, and extends into June. This species will nest in a variety of habitats , but usually in wooded areas. Nest sites include the ground under a shrub , on a cliff , on a ledge, in a shed, or in a barn. No nest is built and eggs are usually laid on the ground, rocks, or other substrate. The female lays 1-3 (usually 2) eggs that she and the male incubate for 38-41 days. The young are semi-altricial and are cared for by the adults for 66-88 days after they hatch . For the first five days after they hatch, the young are brooded continuously by the adults

• Clutch Size: 2
• Length of Incubation : 38-41 days
• Days to Fledge : 66-88
• Number of Broods: 1

Migration

Short distance migrant

Taxonomy

Unambiguous Synonyms

1. Cathartes aura (Linnaeus) 1758

Notes

Name Status: Accepted Name . Latest taxonomic scrutiny: 17-Oct-2001

Similar Species

The most similar species to the Turkey Vulture is the Black Vulture. The Black Vulture has a black bald head. Most of the Black Vulture wing appears black, except a few of the outer flight feathers which create large white-appearing patches near the outer edges of the wings. The wings of the Black Vulture are shorter and broader, and the tail is also shorter.

The Black Vulture is also dark with an unfeathered head, but has a much differet shape in flight. It is short-winged, short-tailed, and intersperses glides on flat wings with quick, snappy wingbeats. Turkey Vultures lack the white patch at the wingtips and show contrast between paler flight feathers and darker coverts. Bald and Golden eagles are both superficially similar, but fly on flat wings, have feathered heads, and do not have contrastingly gray flight feathers. The Zone-tailed Hawk in the Southwest has a similar shape and flight style, but has a feathered head and white bands on a black tail.

Members of the genus Cathartes

There are approximately 18 species in this genus:

C. aura (Turkey Vulture) · C. aura aura (Turkey Vulture) · C. aura falklaica · C. aura falklandicus · C. aura jota · C. aura meridionalis (Turkey Vulture) · C. aura ruficollis (Turkey Vulture) · C. aura septentrionales · C. aura septentrionalis (Turkey Vulture) · C. aura teter (Turkey Vulture) · C. burrovianus · C. burrovianus burrovianus · C. burrovianus urubitinga · C. burrovianus urubutinga · C. gryphus · C. melambrotus · C. papa · C. ruficollis

Bibliography

• Bird Reference Citations. The numbers inserted in the text accounts above (usually in bold) refer to references. For further details on these references, click on the BirdLife International link above to go to the specific species account on the BirdLife web site. In some cases, particularly in the taxonomic notes, the references are cited using the author names. Details for these can be found on the BirdLife International web site at the following two places: For References from A–L. For References from M–Z.
• BirdLife International. 2000. Threatened Birds of the World. Lynx Edicions and BirdLife International, Barcelona, Spain and Cambridge, U.K.
• BirdLife International. 2004 Threatened Birds of the World 2004. CD-ROM. BirdLife International, Cambridge, U.K.

More Info

• Search for Pictures: images.google.com
• Search for Scholarly Articles: Google Scholar
• Search using Scientific Name and Vernacular Names: All the Web | AltaVista Canada | AltaVista | Excite | Google | HotBot | Lycos
• Search using Specialized Databases: GenBank | Medline | Scirus | CISTI/CAL | Agricola Periodicals | Agricola Books

Notes

Contributors

• BirdLife International 2004. In IUCN 2008. 2008 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. IUCNRedList.org. Downloaded July 18, 2008.
• Bisby, F.A., Y.R. Roskov, M.A. Ruggiero, T.M. Orrell, L.E. Paglinawan, P.W. Brewer, N. Bailly, J. van Hertum, eds (2007). Species 2000 & ITIS Catalogue of Life: 2007 Annual Checklist. Species 2000: Reading, U.K.
• Global Biodiversity Information Facility. Accessed March 05, 2008. http://www.gbif.org Mediated distribution data from 14 providers.
• Hines, J. E., Gregory Gough, J. R. Sauer, et al. USGS Patuxent Wildlife Research Center
• NatureServe. 2003. Downloadable animal data sets. NatureServe Central Databases. Accessed February 6, 2005.
• Parker III, T.A., D.F. Stotz, and J.W. Fitzpatrick, and quot;Ecological and Distributional Databases for Neotropical Birds, and quot; in Neotropical Birds: Ecology and Conservation, by D.F. Stotz, T.A. Parker III, J.W. Fitzpatrick, and D.K. Moskovits (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1996). ISBN 0-226-64676-9.
• Sauer, J. R., J. E. Hines, and J. Fallon. 2005. The North American Breeding Bird Survey, Results and Analysis 1966 - 2004. Version 2005.2. USGS Patuxent Wildlife Research Center, Laurel, MD
• Sauer, J. R., S. Schwartz, and B. Hoover. 1996. The Christmas Bird Count Home Page. Version 95.1. USGS Patuxent Wildlife Research Center, Laurel, MD
• The Georgia Museum of Natural History and Georgia Department of Natural Resources
• Universal Biological Indexer and Organizer. uBio.org accessed July 17, 2008.

Data Sources

Accessed through GBIF Data Portal March 05, 2008:

• Avian Knowledge Network: eBird
• Avian Knowledge Network: Great Backyard Bird Count
• Avian Knowledge Network: Hawk Migration Association of North America - HawkCount
• Avian Knowledge Network: Project FeederWatch
• Bird Studies Canada: BC Coastal Waterbird Survey
• Bird Studies Canada: Marsh Monitoring Program - Birds
• Bird Studies Canada: Ontario Breeding Bird Atlas 1981-1985
• Bird Studies Canada: Ontario Breeding Bird Atlas 2001-2005
• Borror Laboratory of Bioacoustics
• Canadian Biodiversity Information Facility: North West Territories and Nunavut Bird Checklist, Canada
• Canadian Biodiversity Information Facility: Ontario Nest Records
• Canadian Biodiversity Information Facility: Provincial Museum of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, Canada. Birds (Aves)
• Canadian Biodiversity Information Facility: Royal British Columbia Museum
• Canadian Museum of Nature: Canadian Museum of Nature Bird Collection
• GBIF-Sweden: Birds (GBIF-SE:Artdatabanken)
• Institute of Marine and Coastal Sciences, Rutgers University: Bay of Fundy Species List (OBIS Canada)
• Marine Science Institute, UCSB: Paleobiology Database
• Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard University: MCZ Ornithology Collection
• Museum of Vertebrate Zoology: Terrestrial vertebrate specimens
• New Brunswick Museum: NBM birds
• Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History: Santa Barbara Musem of Natural History
• Senckenberg: Collection Aves (bird skins)
• Senckenberg: Collection Aves (spirit preserved)
• UNIBIO, IBUNAM: CNAV/Coleccion Nacional de Aves
• University of Michigan Museum of Zoology (UMMZ): Bird specimens

Identifiers

• Biodiversity Heritage Library NamebankID: 3851849
• Catalogue of Life Accepted Name Code: ITS-175268
• Global Biodiversity Information Facility Taxonkey: 13832377
• Integrated Taxonomic Information System (ITIS) Taxonomic Serial Number (TSN): 175265
• IUCN ID: 49648
• Natural Heritage Network Species Identifier: ABNKA02010
• Zipcode Zoo Species Identifier: 907

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