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that was falling in on itself. All boys like to explore deserted buildings and I was no exception when I was growing up in central North Carolina. The incubating vulture hissed at me when I entered and approached her. She jumped across the floor and onto a window opening and sailed out.
Later I returned and found two unbelievably ugly young vultures covered by dirty-looking gray down. They were hatchlings only a mother — or father — could love. I approached slowly and when I got within three feet both regurgitated. The smell was appalling and I quickly left the way I had dome.
To a mammal with a keen sense of smell — a fox or raccoon — in search of a quick meal, this defensive device would be most effective. If regurgitation of the most recent meal — which smelled rotten in the first place — doesn’t work in sending a predator elsewhere, the young play dead. Most predators want live food. As I wrote earlier, evolution has served the vulture well.
Reproduction with vultures is labor intensive and takes a very long time. Courtship involves an awkward, lurching sort of dance by the male around the female. Then there is the courtship flight in which the two soar close together. With one slipping both under and over the other, this aerial display can be fascinating to watch for those of us with enough time and patience to observe it.
Once the pair bond is fixed, the eggs are laid and incubated by both sexes for up to 39 days. After hatching, the young remain dependent on the adults for food for up to two months. Only then have their wings developed enough to get off the ground and soar against the sky in search of food.
Turkey Vultures occur throughout the United States. They migrate from the northern states in autumn and return in the spring. During
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