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To the Beauty of Birds

The Turkey Vulture Cathartes aura is an impressive beast with a wing-span of almost 6 feet. It is most often only seen soaring high in the sky. I was fortunate in seeing a Turkey Vulture on the ground, eating a fish, on the boat ramp at Salton City, Salton Sea, CA. I kept waking slowly getting closer and closer. Eventually it decided the better part of valor was to take wing – providing two excellent close-up shots of a flying Turkey Vulture (2230 and 2233).

Up close, Turkey Vultures Cathartes aura are truly ugly beasts. I was able get one of these photos (1328) by taking advantage of the Florida Keys Wild Bird Center, Key Largo, FL. The other close up was obtained at the Oregon Coast Aquarium aviary in Newport. OR (8892). Note the faint, out-of-focus bars. Speaking of an ugly head, the Turkey Vulture beats them all. I asked the keeper why these birds are so ugly thinking that the answer would be that it sacred away possible predators. Her answer was they had no feathers on their head allowing them to dig into carrion without coming back with the head full of bloody feathers. I guess most birds would be this ugly if they had no feathers on their head. The lack of feather may also help in thermoregulation.

The 7000 series of photos were taken along the shores of the McKenzie River during our drift-boat fishing trip. The vultures appear to be drying out their feathers.
Photo 5029 was taken in my backyard in Monrovia, CA.

Turkey Vulture