One of the most exciting things about nature study to me is how we continue to learn and discover facts, thanks to advances in science.
In the case of vultures, it took until 1994 - long after I left school - for scientists to learn that vultures living in the Americas share a common ancestry with storks and ibises, unlike European vultures who share a common ancestor with hawks.
I love the sight of turkey vultures riding the air currents when they tilt and sunlight catches the two-tone color of their wings.
Seen up close, some individuals have red heads, some grey, but all have essentially bald heads, because they need to stick their heads deep into the body cavity of the carrion (scientific word for an already dead animal) to be able to eat and not have food (and bacteria) get stuck to their heads.
It’s hard to see this when they are way up in the air - but turkey vultures have a 6-foot wing span. Unlike crows, they do not have to flap their wings often as they surf the air currents.
I met wildlife rehabilitators a few years ago who specialize in wild birds. The turkey vulture they rescued several years earlier, returned annually with several vulture family and friends to partake of what they knew was a sure source of food. I had no idea they were social birds.
I also had no idea they ate plants, shore vegetation, left over crops in a field and bird food.