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Species Profile

Turkey Vulture

(Cathartes aura)

Species Fact Sheet

IUCN Red List StatusLeast ConcernSource: IUCN 2024
RangeFrom southern Canada through the continental U.S. and Central and South America to Tierra del Fuego and the Falkland IslandsSource: Johnson et al 2016

Bibliography

Basso et al 2024. "Central Chile comprises a previously unknown nonbreeding area for the migratory population of Turkey Vulture (Cathartes aura ruficollis) breeding in the northwestern Argentine Patagonia" Emu - Austral Ornithology 124(2). https://www.tandfonline.com...

Bildstein et al 2014. “Avian scavengers, but not conspecifics, feeding on the carcasses of storm-killed Turkey Vultures on the Falkland Islands” Vulture News 67: November 2014. https://www.ajol.info...

Campbell 2014. “The impact of urbanization and agricultural development on vultures in El Salvador” Vulture News 66: July 2014. https://www.ajol.info...

Casto 1988. “Perceptions of Vultures by the Indians and Early Texans” Bulletin of the Texas Ornithological Society 21. https://sora.unm.edu...

Darwin 1841. “The Zoology of the Voyage of HMS Beagle, Part III: Birds” London: Smith Elder and Co. https://darwin-online.org.uk...

Gomez et al 2014. “Avian Pox in Turkey Vulture (Cathartes aura)” Vulture News 66: July 2014. https://www.ajol.info...

Gunderson 2018. “Turkey Vultures Cathartes aura scavenging on a floating marine mammal carcass in Big Sur, California” Vulture News 75: November 2018. https://www.ajol.info...

Herring et al 2023. “Anticoagulant rodenticides are associated with increased stress and reduced body condition of avian scavengers in the Pacific Northwest” Environmental Pollution 331(2): 15 August 2023. https://www.sciencedirect.com...

Hill et al 2023. “Urbanization influences spatiotemporal patterns of roost site selection by black vultures and turkey vultures” Urban Ecosystems 26: 14 April 2023. https://link.springer.com...

Johnson et al 2016. “Multi-locus phylogenetic inference among New World Vultures (Aves: Cathartidae)” Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 105: December 2016. https://www.sciencedirect.com...

Kimbo and Barlow 2023. “An extreme weather event in Sierra Leone precipitates a mass slaughter of Hooded Vultures Necrosyrtes monachus for human consumption” Afrotropical Bird Biology 3: 2023. https://journals.uct.ac.za...

Leoni et al 2024. “First fossil record of a Turkey vulture (Cathartes aura) in northeast of Brazil: Taxonomy, ichnology, and taphonomic history” Journal of South American Earth Sciences 136: April 2024. https://www.sciencedirect.com...

Lowe 2023. “Scavenging Efficiency in Turkey Vultures (Cathartes aura) at Forested Sites. IdeaFest 2023 (Poster). https://digitalcommons.humboldt.edu...

Platt and Rainwater 2025. "Observations of Turkey Vulture (Cathartes aura) Mortality Along a Commuter Railway in New York, USA" The Journal of Raptor Research 59(1). https://meridian.allenpress.com...

Saggese et al 2024. "Turkey Vultures (Cathartes aura) from Southern California are Exposed to Anticoagulant Rodenticides Despite Recent Bans" Journal of Raptor Research 58 (4). https://meridian.allenpress.com...

Schutten et al 2025. "Investigating Plastic Pollution Ingestion in Migratory Turkey Vultures (Cathartes aura) in Ontario, Canada" Journal of Raptor Research 59(2). https://allen.silverchair-cdn.com...