I have never seen a vulture but if I saw THAT on my garage I would freak out.

Maybe a Black Vulture.

That is definitely a Turkey vulture with a black head.

Juvenile Turkey Vulture, which BTW have dark heads

Wow. Great pics there! Vultures are really interesting to me, and this post had me curious. I know that elly really knows her birds, and I assumed that she was correct with her ID. I decided to investigate a bit to educate myself about the differences between the Black and the Turkey Vultures. I came across this neat web page which offered up some very helpful information. For me, the differences in the overall shape of the perched bird and the Turkey's much different olfactory bulbs were telling. In flight of course, it is much easier to tell them apart. I assume then, that your Turkey Vulture is a young one, and that is why its face is not yet red. And now...I know. :o) Thanks for sharing!~~Angie

Here is a link that might be useful: Black Vlture or Turkey Vulture?

Thanks all. I was wondering about the head being black versus red like most images are shown for this species. Mystery solved and I appreciate the help.

Julia

Really nice pics of the Vulture! I love Vultures and have always been interested in them. I know that elly really knows her birds, and after assuming that her ID was correct, I decided to do some research to understand about how she knew which Vulture this was. I found this nice web page which shows a clear illustration of the differences in shape and profile. There is also mention of the much more pronounced olfactory bulbs of the Turkey Vulture. I am supposing that your Turkey Vulture is a young one, and that is why its head is black and not yet red. I love learning new things! Thanks for sharing your pics.~~Angie

P.S. Forgive me if I have posted twice here. My computer is really messed up, and I couldn't see my original post when I came back to check.

Here is a link that might be useful: Turkey Vulture or Black Vulture?

What gorgeous pictures of a gorgeous bird!! I love Vultures!!! They are Mother Nature's cleanup crew!!! I enjoyed that link on how to tell the Black from the Turkey Vulture too.
Joann

How very interesting! We often have Turkey Vultures soaring over the fields, but seeing one sitting outside my house would give me the willies!

I did not see the fuzzes on the head! Thanks, Creeper.

I love vultures : ) I had one scraping around my roof a few weeks ago. He was a juvenile goofball, looking down at me the same way. His parents were circling above, and rather close, evidently worried about their goofy child.

If that is a juvenile, then I don't want to meet the parents. Haven't seen any since I took that pic so I guess they moved on.

Julia

That is a juvenile turkey vulture and it is beautiful.

It doesn't have its colorful feathers yet. Look at that face--long and lost.

1. Notice its face in your first image--no facial warts or whatever they are officially called. They get that with age.

2. From memory, those legs are those of a turkey vulture--redish in them. Blacks have a white color--they always looked like preachers to me.

I even have images of turkey vultures during their little mating dance and mating.

Anyway, thanks for posting those images. That is the first close look I have had at a juvenile.

I haven't posted here for some time and was lucky to remember my log in name.

chescobob: Glad you liked the pics. My first experience with this type of bird so had to take some pics. I don't look forward to seeing it as a juvenile or adult perched on the garage roof again. ;-).
Julia

Within the past say 3 years I have turkey vultures spending the night in the huge cottonwood in the very back of my yard. They spend their nights in this neighborhood....sometimes at my house, some times at another house a block away. There is a huge group circling every night in the summer...like 20 or more birds.
But I do have a picture where I counted about 40 birds in the tree one fall after the leaves were gone.
I wonder when they will leave? ( I am in central Iowa) do they all migrate as a flock? One at a time? Where do they nest? And why do I never see a vulture eating any of the dozens of road kill deer in this area? I haven't seen a vulture on the ground in Iowa ever!
Can anyone shed some light on these mysteries?
Linda C

Linda - They will head south soon. They tend to migrate as a group, but not as rigidly as the geese or dicks.

I can't help you on the road kill, except to say that the state might clean it up before they get there.They scent the carcass of the correct "ripeness", which is pretty stinky. Road kill in dense areas tends to cause accidents as people swerve to avoid the bears or birds feasting on the carcass. In rural NM and AZ where they just drag it off the road several yards, the vultures and ravens are easy to spot.

They nest in shallow caves, thickets or other protected areas.

One of the dairy farms around here has a dead tree they favor, and there will be 20-50 birds in it during the winter.

So.....they all go to Phoenix for the winter?? LOL!!
Do they return all at once? I have never noticed.....they just all of a sudden seem to be there.
And why is it that within just the past 5 or 6 years that I have noticed the large flocks here?
As for road kill...I suppose they eventually do remove dead deer....but they can be several days. We;re not too population dense here....
Thanks.....
Linda C

http://ag.arizona.edu/bta/events/buzzards.html

Apparently, ours head south to Mexico. So I guess yours end up here, because I see them year round.