Looking like something left over from prowling the halloween streets last night, this immature turkey vulture was sitting sentry like over an unfortunate deer that had recently been hit on a nearby road. Although scavengers, turkey vultures (Cathartes aura) with their exceptional sense of smell could be said to provide mother nature’s ‘cleaning service’, in that they will often take care of the edible remains of a carcass that many other animals and birds just wouldn’t touch. Young and immature turkey vultures have a greyish coloured head and bill whilst mature adult birds have the more expected bright red colour that most people recognize them by. Many vultures fly south for the winter from the central and southern BC coast and spend their time in California.
