How to Identify a Turkey Vulture (Cathartes aura)

• Head pattern: Adult has a bare red head; juvenile has a gray head, not red
• Flight silhouette: Soars with wings held in a shallow V (dihedral); wingbeats are deep and ponderous when flapping on takeoff
• Underwing: Two-toned underwing: black wing linings contrasting against gray (silvery) flight feathers
• Tail: Long, rounded, square-tipped, wedge-shaped tail
• Size: 25-32 in (64-81 cm); wingspan 6 ft (1.8 m); very large with long wings, long tail, and a small head

Turkey Vulture soars with wings in a shallow V and shows a two-toned underwing (black linings, gray flight feathers) and a red adult head, while Black Vulture flies flatter-winged with a flap-flap-glide pattern, shows a whitish patch only near the wingtips, and has a bare gray-black head; unlike Black Vulture, Turkey Vulture regularly forages over small offshore islands The Black Vulture page lists its own marks.

Widespread over open country, woods, deserts, and foothills; generally avoids densely forested regions Present year-round across much of the southern US; northern birds migrate long distances, some reaching South America

Soars with wings held in a shallow V, rocking unsteadily, and forages regularly over small offshore islands unlike Black Vulture

Raptors are usually far away and against the sky, so expose for the bird, not the sky, and take several frames as it turns: the tail shape, wing shape and underwing pattern show best in flight. For a perched bird, get the head and chest in one frame. Size is hard to judge alone; compare with a nearby crow, gull or fence post. The app names the likely species; confirm with the marks above.