- Thanks Ann.

The photo is a turkey vulture, our only native American vulture. America does have a second species, the black vulture, which has migrated up from South America. They were seen only in the Southern states in years past but now are commonly seen in Maryland.

The turkey vultures use their olfactory senses to hone in on carcasses and the blacks will often watch the turkeys to follow them to a carcass. Researchers discovered this by covering dead chickens with leaves in the middle of a rain forest and watched while turkey vultures soared above the area and finally came down and started feeding. The blacks never showed up until the turkeys came down first.

They have a six foot wing span so are very impressive, especially when seen up close. When you are driving around, if you see a flock of huge birds soaring together it is most likely vultures who have discovered something dead and are trying to pinpoint where it is.