Kern Valley Schools Vulture Watch

Hi Kids

Have you seen any vultures lately?
When did you see them?
Where are/were they?
What are/were they doing?
How many vultures did you see?
Did you see any other birds?
How about other animals?

We would love to hear from all the local schools. Let us know what school you are with, your grade and your teachers name along with your first name on your post.

What is a vulture?

Vultures are large birds with featherless heads designed for eating carrion.

New World Vultures

Learn about Turkey Vultures at the 13th Annual Turkey Vulture Festival on Sept. 28-30

Taxonomic Classification

Kingdom: Metazoa (=Animalia) Phylum: Chordata Class: Aves (birds)

New World Vultures are similar to Old World Vultures in their habit of eating carrion and bare heads.

NEW WORLD VULTURES

Current Classification

Order: Falconiformes Family: Cathartidae - New World Vultures

Black Vulture - Coragyps atratus
Turkey Vulture - Cathartes aura
Lesser Yellow-headed Vulture - Cathartes burrovianus
Greater Yellow-headed Vulture - Cathartes melambrotus
California Condor - Gymnogyps californianus
King Vulture - Sarcoramphus papa
Andean Condor - Vultur gryphus

New World Vultures are medium to large-sized birds that are adapted to a diet of dead animals. They have weak feet with blunt talons and bare heads. The California Condor only lives on the west coast and the Black Vulture only lives in the east. The Turkey Vulture lives and migrates throughout the Western Hemisphere.

Turkey Vulture - Cathartes aura

In California vultures can be found all year along the coast and are only absent from the interior during short periods in winter. They are particularly fond of large trees where they like to roost overnight.

The Turkey Vulture is 25 inches long and has a wingspan of six feet. They are large dark brown birds with silvery flight feathers. The juveniles have gray-skinned heads and grayish bills and the adults have red-skinned bald heads and yellow bills.

California Condor - Gymnogyps californianus

Condors are rare in California and Arizona throughout the year. They are found foraging and roosting along the foothills and mountains in the central California coast and in the Grand Canyon.

The California Condor is the largest land bird in North America. It has a wingspan up to 9.5', unlike the light 3 pound Turkey Vulture, the condor is a heavy bird weighing up to 24 lbs. It begins to breed at 6 years and can live as long as 45 years.

The 7 species of New World vultures are in the family Cathartidae. They are in the order Falconiformes for now, but scientists are trying to determine who vultures are most closely related to. For a few years they thought they were most closely related to storks, but now they are not so sure. Recently they moved them back to the order of falconiformes but kept them in the family Cathartidae but this most likely is not the end of the story. The 15 species of Old World Vultures from Europe, Africa, and Asia are in the family Accipitridae. Old World vultures are more closely related to hawks, where New World Vultures are not.
In Europe a buzzard is a hawk where in North America many people call vultures buzzards.
Confusing isn't it?
One thing is for sure, without vultures the land would be full of rotting dead things. Vultures are the janitors of the World and serve an extremely important function.