The Vomiting Vulture

This vulture is natures ultimate garbage collector with a bill that can rip open the toughest cow hide, yet with feet like a chicken instead of mighty talons like an eagle. A Turkey Vulture can eat carrion (dead and decaying animals) that are rotted and diseased and not get sick or die, as a matter of fact the birds droppings are disease free. The turkey vulture in fact plays an important role in protecting other animals from getting sick. Turkey Vultures love warm sunny days when the air currents are active and they can soar very high in a flight pattern called a kettle. Vultures are very common in Wisconsin and can be identified by the formation of their wings, when they soar and glide they hold their wings in a gentle "V" formation. Turkey Vultures are about the size of an eagle without the white head, as a matter of fact the Turkey Vulture has a "bald" red head and the Bald eagle has a "hairy" head of white feathers. I wonder why they don't call it the bald vulture? Probably because all vultures are bald...maybe.

This bird has no song or call because it does not have a voice box (syrinx) so it hisses and grunts to make sounds; otherwise they are generally silent. Vultures  have an instinct that makes them want to return to it's summer feeding grounds the exact same time every year regardless of the weather, which is around the vernal equinox (the first day of Spring). In 1994 bird scientist (who knew such thing existed) determined that the Turkey vulture was actually a member of the stork family. Did you also know that some of these same bird scientists estimate that vultures will consume 111 ponds of rotted, spoiled, diseased, dead things in a year? If the carrion is scarce a vulture will eat pumpkins, leaves,seeds and grass.

Okay now for the vomiting part. If you ever visit a Vulture roosting area or a rookery; BEWARE. Vultures young and old, will swiftly vomit in the direction of any disturbance or danger, to scare it away. Think of it, regurgitating a dead animal, that is scary all by itself.

Check out more for yourself at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turkey_Vulture