Our two Turkey Vultures Trigger and Nutsy arrived at the park in September 2022. They are brother and sister and were born in May 2020. They are very inquisitive and enjoy searching around the enclosure for there food. They love day old chicks and rats.

They are widespread over open country, woods, deserts, foothills and are most common in open or semi-open country, especially within a few miles of rocky or wooded areas, providing secure nesting sites. They generally avoid densely forested regions. Unlike Black Vulture, they regularly forage over small offshore islands.

DIET Turkey Vulture diets vary depending on their habitat. Vultures living around agriculture, feed mainly on the carrion of domestic animals, mostly livestock. They also rely heavily on roadkill in areas of human development. Turkey Vultures preferentially feed on smaller carcasses, but will feed on dead animals of any size.

Breeding takes place from March to June. Nest sites are usually found in sheltered areas such as hollow trees or logs, crevices in cliffs, or in old buildings. Incubation time is typically 30 to 40 days. Young reach the fledging stage at 70 to 80 days old and are independent about a week later.

Turkey vulture’s are considered a least concern species which means they are not currently threatened with extinction. However they do face perscution from humans as they are thought to carry dangerous viruses including anthrax and hog cholera.

The word vulture likely comes from the Latin word vellere, which means to pluck, pull or tear out.