Longtime Marin residents will remember the late Elizabeth Terwilliger’s famous mnemonic for telling the difference between a flying hawk and a flying turkey vulture: “V is for vulture!” A large circling bird whose wings form the shape of a “V” is a turkey vulture. A soaring bird whose wings in flight are held flat and straight across is a hawk.
You can spot a turkey vulture, or even a group of them “kettling” together, virtually anywhere in Marin County. Once the sun heats the environment enough to create the thermals they need to soar, turkey vultures seem to exist in every corner of the sky. But what are these big, soaring birds doing? The answer is looking for dead things, but the turkey vulture’s role in our ecosystem goes far beyond their disgusting job description.
Everything about a vulture is built for soaring, and, let’s be honest, eating carrion. That naked head? Perfectly designed for inserting into the body cavity of a carcass. That sharp beak? Excellent for tearing and rending tough hides. Those huge nostril-like openings? Well-suited for detecting the scent of rot on the wind. Turkey vultures have extremely advanced olfactory senses, one of the best in the natural world.
But before you stop reading out of disgust, consider the services turkey vultures provide, as well as some of the marvelous adaptations that make their role as head of nature’s cleanup crew possible.
Turkey vultures have ferocious stomach acid and their gastrointestinal system is extremely hostile to bacteria. Although vultures do have standards and they prefer to consume recently dead flesh over putrid carcasses, an average meal still contains loads of bacteria that, if left to spread, multiply and enter the water table, would cause illness in other animals and humans.
A turkey vulture consumes the bacteria that cause illnesses, including botulism, anthrax, salmonella and cholera, preventing these bacteria from spreading through the wider environment. Not only do vultures prevent the spread of bacteria through ingestion, they also effectively sterilize the area around the carcass with their droppings, which are deposited in a starburst pattern around the feeding area. Fun fact: Turkey vultures also urinate/defecate on their legs, which successfully kills remaining bacteria on their feet, in addition to helping the bird cool off.
Turkey vultures are large birds, but their 6-foot wingspan belies their body weight of only 3 to 4 pounds. They can consume an astonishing amount of food — pounds of meat per day. Consumption in such quantities helps purge the environment of rotting animals and potentially hazardous bacteria, but it makes escaping predators challenging for vultures. The solution? Vomiting, of course.
WildCare’s Wildlife Hospital admits a dozen or more turkey vulture patients every year, usually victims of cars or secondary poisoning. If you ask staff and volunteers what the worst smell in the world is, most will immediately reply, “turkey vulture vomit!” and we know this because these patients inevitably vomit copiously immediately upon admission.
This reflex serves them well. A heap of vomited carrion either causes a potential predator to shy away in disgust, or distracts the predator with an easier meal, allowing the now-slightly-lighter vulture to make his laborious way back into the safety of the sky, ready to find the next potentially disease-causing carcass to consume.
The next time you see a vulture soaring or sitting with outstretched wings, absorbing the sun in the “horaltic pose,” take a moment to appreciate these interesting animals. Vultures have complex social lives, mate for life and are excellent parents. These attributes, combined with their undeniable service to the environment, make them excellent neighbors.
Alison Hermance is the communications and marketing director for WildCare. Marin Humane contributes Tails of Marin articles and welcomes animal-related questions and stories about the people and animals in our community. Go to marinhumane.org, email lbloch@marinhumane.org, or find us on social media @marinhumane.
