Superb Soaring

     When I was a boy living outside Rohrerstown, Pennsylvania, I saw turkey vultures sailing high across the sky almost every day I looked for them.  I thought how graceful they were on the wing, soaring across the sky and tilting from side to side slightly on their wing tips with scarcely a wing beat.  I always enjoy seeing turkey vultures in the sky to this very day! 
     A pleasure to see through each year, turkey vultures are the most superb of soaring birds in the Americas, including in Pennsylvania.  Their effortless, graceful soaring on high, with barely a wing beat, hour after hour, is inspiring to watch.  They create majestic circles in the sky, or pass directly across it from horizon to horizon, often without beating their wings a single time.  And they are always in control of their floating on the wind, tilting their slightly uplifted wing tips from side to side to maintain their steadiness on the wind and where they want to go.  Sometimes they skim just over trees or buildings with a rush, causing a thrill in some of us humans, but never a collision with objects or each other.
     Turkey vultures soar across the sky every storm-free day through the year to detect dead animals below, their only food.  They have good senses of smell and acknowledge the presence of a dead animal on the ground by its odor alone.  They also seem to remember where dead animals are.  And these vultures watch each other in the sky.  If one suddenly descends, that descent is a signal to other vultures in the sky that food has been discovered.  Several of them circle down magnificently in the wind, lower and lower without a wing beat, to the carcass below. 
     Turkey vultures often pass across the sky in loose groups, with each bird sniffing for its next meal.  Seeing a group of turkey vultures is even more inspiring and enjoyable. 
     Turkey vultures are large and have brown feathers.  Adults have red, naked heads, while youngsters have gray ones.  These birds are not dirty or offensive in any way.  In fact, they are fine birds that have an unpleasant food source, but one they are well adapted to.  Their heads don't have feathers because they reach their beaks and heads into carcasses to get to the edible insides.  Feathers in a carcass would get messy and be a breeding ground for bacteria and other problems that would compromise the health of these birds.
     These vultures nest in rock crevices, hollow trees, tree stumps and other sheltered places on forest floors.  Each pair raises one chick per year, but they don't have many natural enemies so one is enough to maintain their population.              
     Groups of turkey vultures winter in stands of coniferous trees in certain wooded valleys in Pennsylvania.  There they are relatively safe from cold wind.   
     Watch for turkey vultures soaring in the sky most any storm-free day of the year.  Their floating on the wind is beautiful and inspiring.