Turkey Vulture living in St Thomas

by Cathy
(St Thomas, Ontario, Canada)

Turkey Vulture in flight

I back onto a ravine and noticed a pair of vultures living in a dead tree about 16 years ago.

A couple of years past one of the pair must have died as "Ralph" (named by my brother) has been seen soaring alone.

I was lucky to stop my car not 5 feet from Ralph and watched him preening for about 5 minutes before he flew off.

Beautiful, large bird that is often seen soaring along the ravine.

I didn't know they gather in large numbers.

Thanks, Cathy, for telling us about Ralph. I hope he finds a mate soon.

We also live in St Thomas, Ontario (Barb, your Webmistress, and my hubby) and we were down in Port Stanley recently and saw a flock of Turkey Vultures, circling around down there.

I'm not sure where they roost now that the big concrete silos near the harbour have gone, but they were likely getting ready to head south when we saw them.

Interestingly, a group of Vultures on the ground is known as a "Venue" and Vultures circling in the air are a "Kettle".