---
title: "Turkey Vulture (Cathartes aura) | AnimalTracks.wiki"
description: "A scavenger with a real nose, and a habit of riding warm air."
image: "https://animaltracks.wiki/images/animals/turkey-vulture-1.webp"
published: "2026-10-10"
updated: "2026-10-10"
---
# Turkey Vulture (*Cathartes aura*)
> **Status**: Checked against 7 sources, listed under Sources below.
> **Tagline**: A scavenger with a real nose, and a habit of riding warm air.
> **Soundtrack Vibe**: Indie Rock & Jangle Pop // Modest Mouse, "Float On"
> **Soundtrack Links**: [Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/track/2lwwrWVKdf3LR9lbbhnr6R)
> **Vibe Match**: A turkey vulture is more buoyant than other vultures, and a heart-rate logger showed soaring barely raised its heart rate. Float On is that easy glide set to a bouncing guitar.
## Biological Superpowers & Stats
- **Taxonomy**: *Cathartes aura*
- **Danger Level**: Low
- **Conservation Status**: Least Concern ([IUCN Red List](https://doi.org/10.2305/iucn.uk.2018-2.rlts.t22697627a131941613.en))
- **Superpower**: Finds carrion by smell, even beneath forest canopy
- **Habitat**: Open country from southern Canada to southernmost South America, nesting in caves, crevices and hollow trees
- **Diet**: Mostly carrion, preferring animals that died recently
- **Tags**: bird, scavenger, flying
## Natural History & Behavior
## The vulture with a nose
Most birds are believed to have a very poor sense of smell. The turkey vulture is an exception. Its highly developed olfactory sense (the sense of smell) lets it find concealed carcasses beneath forest canopies. It also watches the ground and the actions of other scavengers. Black vultures often follow turkey vultures to food and sometimes crowd them off a carcass through sheer numbers.
> **Rare bird skill**
> Animal Diversity Web counts the turkey vulture among the only bird species worldwide that uses smell extensively.
## Built to float
A turkey vulture is 64 to 81 cm long, with a wingspan of 170 to 183 cm. It weighs 0.85 to 2 kg, depending on the subspecies. Its wings carry little weight for their surface area, which makes it more buoyant than other vultures and better at using thermals, columns of rising warm air. A GPS tracking study found that turkey vultures nearly exclusively used thermal lift on autumn migration across eastern North America. One vulture wore a heart-rate logger for 124 hours of flight over 38 days. Its heart rate rose only a little as its daily distance grew, which suggests soaring does not greatly increase the energy cost of flight.
The species breeds from southern Canada to southernmost South America. Birds of the World calls it the most migratory and widely distributed vulture in the Americas.
## Dinner, fresh and otherwise
Audubon says the turkey vulture feeds mainly on dead animals and prefers those recently dead. It cannot get through the thick skin of larger animals, so it waits for some decay to open up the body cavity. It occasionally eats decaying plants, live insects or live fish in drying-up ponds.
It has few natural predators, though owls sometimes take young and adults. The bird defends itself by regurgitating semi-digested meat, and the putrid smell deters most attackers. Chicks do the same when approached in the nest, and they hiss as well.
## Nests and years
Turkey vultures nest in dark recesses beneath boulders, on cliff ledges, and in caves and hollow trees. A clutch is two eggs, sometimes one, and incubation usually takes 34 to 41 days. Young birds first fly at about 9 to 10 weeks. AnAge lists a maximum longevity of 20.8 years.
The IUCN Red List rates the species Least Concern.
## Frequently Asked Questions
### Can a turkey vulture really smell dinner?
Yes, and that is rare for a bird. Animal Diversity Web calls it one of the few bird species with an acute sense of smell. It pairs that nose with its eyesight to locate carcasses. *(Source: [Animal Diversity Web, University of Michigan]())*
### How big is a turkey vulture?
Animal Diversity Web gives a wingspan of 170 to 183 cm on a body 64 to 81 cm long. Weight varies by subspecies, from 0.85 to 2 kg. *(Source: [Animal Diversity Web, University of Michigan]())*
### What does a turkey vulture do when a predator gets close?
It throws up. Animal Diversity Web describes the defence as regurgitating semi-digested meat, and its putrid smell is enough to deter most predators. *(Source: [Animal Diversity Web, University of Michigan]())*
### Does a turkey vulture migrate?
Many do. Birds of the World says three North American subspecies are partly migratory, and millions of the western one, meridionalis, fly to Central and South America. At least some populations in temperate South America head north for the austral winter. *(Source: [Kirk et al. 2024]())*
## Sources
1. [Cathartes aura. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2018: e.T22697627A131941613.]()
2. [Kirk et al. (2024). Turkey Vulture (Cathartes aura). Birds of the World.]()
3. [Mandel et al. (2008). Movement ecology of migration in turkey vultures. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.]()
4. [Bohrer et al. (2011). Estimating updraft velocity components over large spatial scales: contrasting migration strategies of golden eagles and turkey vultures. Ecology Letters.]()
5. [Cathartes aura. Animal Diversity Web, University of Michigan.]()
6. [Turkey Vulture. Audubon Field Guide.]()
7. [AnAge entry for Cathartes aura. AnAge: The Animal Ageing and Longevity Database.]()
*Published October 10, 2026. Last updated October 10, 2026.*
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