Wow! Amazing photo!

I think Mt. Holly, NJ is the unofficial turkey vulture capital... at least in this state. Very common to see several sitting on someone's roof... on chimney with wings spread. Are they called "turkey" vultures because of their size? Unfortunately, dead deer are almost a common sight along road sides. Without exaggeration, those vultures picked carcass completely clean in only a few days... just white bones from ribs left.

Maybe they are called turkey vultures because their heads kind of resemble a turkey? I don't know. That is an amazing picture. I see them pretty frequently around here (Philadelphia 'burbs) but only one at a time.

I love seeing them in-flight. The white and black wing pattern is amazing! Thanks for posting Jem.

Reminds me of that scene in the Disney movie Jungle Book.

"Whatcha want to do? I dunno, whatchoo wanna do?"

Great pic!

I'm in the middle of New Jersey and have had flocksof turkey vultures nesting in my trees overnight. I think they're called turkey vultures because their bodies resemble turkeys. I think they're cool birds.

I have seen them around but never like that. Usually one or two feeding on a deer carcass. Central NJ here as well. Seems like NJ PA country. Beautiful photos! Are they only in this region?

Those are amazing photos. Gotta be there at the right moment.

That is a cool picture. I was at the dock the other day where my husband keeps his shrimp boat, and there were white pelicans perched on a row of pilings....about 30 of them. I just posted a picture of the snow on the bayou in the thread about weather and across the bayou, you can see several buzzards sitting in a tree. There was a dead cow over there, and they were waiting on their Christmas dinner to thaw a little, I suppose.

We call them turkey buzzards, and I've never noticed white on the ones I've seen. I don't see them close up, unless they are feeding on road kill, and I've never seen as many as are lined up in the first pic!

Those are wonderful pictures, jemdandy! I've always found turkey vultures very interesting and certainly important to the ecosystem.

mama goose, you won't really see the light colored flight wings unless they are in that horaltic pose.....sun gathering. I've rarely seen that, either.

A few years ago I was driving down a highway and saw, what looked to me, a black plastic bag in the road. Several turkey buzzards were circling above it. I decided there must be something dead in the bag. On the way home I could clearly see it was a dead buzzard. His relatives and friends must have been saying good bye.

That is amazing! We don't have vultures in Newfoundland, I've only ever seen them soaring overhead when in other parts of Canada or the USA.

What great photos!

We see turkey vultures around here, usually overhead. About 15 miles away there is a landfill and there are always TVs sound that area.

TVs can detect the odor of carrion from appreciable distances. Their heads are featherless so that they stay cleaner (they get very engrossed in feeding, let's just say).

jemdandy -- I'd like to print your photos to use for BIRTHDAY cards ;)

imagine the Warped Greeting Cards industry ...

Get Well

Birthday greetings -- make every second count

Sympathy

Team effort

Thinking of you ...

Estate Planning business card

So, how was your day?

Had 28 in the top of a 176 ft. snag top Douglas fir one year. Made it look like a giant herbaceous plant like a lily with black pods.

petalique

You may print these for various greeting/birthday cards. Contact me and I can send you better images. The images in this post have been severely compressed and have lost some definition. I do not have a photo account on-line.

(For a short time, I have changed my profile to allow members of this forum to contact me.)

These birds are very wary and it is rare that I can get close enough to make a decent image of them. I approached these in an a SUV and shot from a window exposing not much more than my camera. A couple shots were made through the windshield. Also, these are zoomed at about the maximum that I can do hand-held.

These birds are commonly refereed to as buzzards and are absolute masters at riding thermals and finding updrafts.

Thought you'd get a kick out of seeing how close they used to hang out to us

notice how the raccoons, cats and buzzards would get along

and the fox

Loved seeing all the creatures, Building for cats. I was cleaning out the refrigerator one day and a flock of crows came to see if there was anything they wanted. Their caws attracted some buzzards, and with the buzzards was a Cara Cara. I see them every so often with the buzzards around here. (I live out in the country.) A Cara Cara is one of those Mexican eagles....they eat both carrion and live prey. This day, however, he picked up a piece of purple onion and flew off with it. Doubt he ate it though....once he figured out it wasn't meat. They're a funny looking bird...look like they are wearing a toupee!

Those are black vultures in those last shots.

Emborthrium,

Yes, those are definitely black vultures. We had turkey as well, but it was the black one we rescued, so he, his girlfriend and kids move in !