Turkey Vulture
(Cathartes aura)Species Fact Sheet
IUCN Red List Status | Least Concern | Source: IUCN 2024 |
Range | From southern Canada through the continental U.S. and Central and South America to Tierra del Fuego and the Falkland Islands | Source: Johnson et al 2016 |
Recent News
21 February 2025: "Celebrate the Return of the Vulture" Nebraskaland.
14 February 2025: "Deaths of vultures from avian flu in rural Maryland" DanRodricks.com
30 January 2025: "Navajo Nation Joins Group Working to Prevent Lead Poisoning in Animals" Arizona Highways.
22 January 2025: "Boat captain rescues stranded vultures found off Florida keys" Fox 51 Gainesville.
21 January 2025: "Scientists make disturbing new discovery after analyzing blood of vultures: 'The tip of the iceberg'" The Cool Down.
15 January 2025: "Researchers Study Competitive Behaviors Between Black Vultures, Turkey Vultures" Purdue University.
14 January 2025: "Hillsborough: Turkey Vulture Problem, Snow Response, Legislative Goals" Chapelboro.com.
31 July 2024: “Lake Metroparks remembers turkey vulture Ms. V, dead after 39 years” The News Herald.
12 November 2023: “Why Vultures Might Just Be the Smartest Birds Above the Block” The New York Times.
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...