Donna Dieterle took these photos at home in West Golden Hills of a turkey vulture that warmed in the sun, perched on the split rail of a fence.
As temperatures increase and days lie down, Turkey vultures (Cathartes aura) Heads again north after having stayed in Mexico, Central America and even in South America for the coldest and darkest winter months.
In autumn, more than 30,000 turkey vultures hover south of the Tehachapi pass, a fluid flow of dark birds in the shape of a kite. They can form herds of vulture surrounded and navigating this number by hundreds.
During the enumerations of vulture in previous Türkiye, birds migrating in the Tehachapi pass, produced by Tehachapi Mountains Birding Club, more than 3,000 birds have spent some of the most active days.
When returning to the spring, on the other hand, it seems that it is a much more dispersed event, although the reasons for this are not fully known. It may be because the return vultures come back at a quieter rate and stop for meals along the way.
Fall migrants, on the other hand, do not eat, but cover as much land as they can every day and give up eating.
In the spring, you do not see the huge groups of birds, just a smaller number, usually with figures.
Despite their large size – larger than a red tail hawk – turkey vultures are not aggressive, and unlike certain species of vulture, do not leave almost after no prey that remains with life.
While most birds have little sense of smell, turkey vultures have very well developed olfactory capacities and they find a cargo mainly by the smell of decomposition.
The word Nuwä (Kawaiisu or Southern Paiute) for the vulture of Turkey is Wükamahaazi, pronounced Wuh-Kuh-Ma-Haz.
Natural observations are a regular characteristic of Tehachapi news published by Jon Hammond who presents photos of natural beauty that improves the quality of life in Tehachapi. If you have a good quality image of plants, animals, insects, trees, birds, weather phenomena, etc., taken in the Tehachapi region, you can submit it to Tehachapi news for a possible publication. Submissions can be deleted by the information office in the form of a printing or a CD, or sent by e-mail to: editorial@tehachapinews.com.