IDENTIFYING CHARACTERISTICS: 

Wingspan 6 feet; length, 27 inches. Brownish/black body, the feather less head is black in immature birds, red in adults. Wings are held in a V when soaring unlike eagles which hold their wings straight out. Birds rock or appear unsteady in flight. 

The type in the Yarmouth area are much smaller then the above description. 

I was examining some blurred photographs of birds of prey that I had taken on Brier Island, Nova Scotia on the afternoon of Thursday, Sept 24th., 2009, trying to identify them, when I was astonished to realize that the best ID I could come up with for the attached photograph was that it was a turkey vulture.  I did not expect to see one at that location, and had never seen one before.
 
Hope this is of interest to you.
 
Cheers,            Paul Widden

Sarah Durkee-Baird"  At 10:38 AM 4/14/2010, you wrote: My husband and I stumbled upon your website after searching the internet to try and identify a new kind of bird that we saw.  We live in Hebron and have a turkey vulture who seems to have made himself at home around our backyard.  We managed to snap some shots of him during his last visit just yesterday.

Hello
My name Robert Johnson and I am the service manager for direct digital office solutions in new minas. I was comming back from yarmouth on Sept 2nd on the 101 hyway (about 10 kms out of the town) when I saw what appeared to be a vulture. It was definately a vulture and had a reddish head.I stopped the car and spun it around to get a better look. When I returned to my office, I looked on the internet and found out that there are indeed turkey vultures in this province. As I looked at it, it got spooked and gracefully almost lazily took off to the tree tops and sort of glidded away. I was and am very much impressed. I am not a bird watcher, but seeing this was a special treat.
Robert Johnson

These were taken over the weekend of Aug 15 just outside Yarmouth. I had to chase them for awhile to get the shots I wanted but getting the pics (about 30) of these birds topped off a weekend in an area that comes close to being a photographer's dream. Loved the town and the surrounding area. Please feel free to post the pics if you would like.

Byron Feltmate
Dartmouth, NS
bfeltmate@hotmail.com

Click on picture for enlargement

Greetings,

Here is a sampling of pictures taken today (July 2 /09) out near Chebogue Point.  These are jpegs as captured by the camera.  I've left them full sized.  They aren't as sharp as I would like.  My lens is apparently a bit soft at the furthest extent of its zoom range. Either that or I have to get better at hand holding the camera. These haven't been corrected, cleaned-up or cropped in photoshop  or any other program, but they probably need to be.   They were taken with a Nikon D40 using a 70-300 mm lens.  I have more shots, but these three seemed to be the most useful.

Webmaster Comment:   Thank you for the excellent shots Darren

Hi,

I spotted a turkey vulture on the side of the highway eating a dead animal just outside Lower Sackville going towards Dartmouth today took me a while to identify it.

Just thought I would let you know sorry no pics.

Thanks
Simon.

Subject: Magazine Yarmouth-Turkey Vultures
To: webmaster@yarmouth.org 
 

Peak Periods---Feb.4th -14 Vultures on the ground feeding            feb.6th 12 Turkey Vultures      Feb.7th  15 Turkey Vultures.Feb .8th--11 Turkey Vultures.Feb. 10th. at 1:00 pm. there were 25 on the ground feeding. S.J.H.

Comments: Peak period to see birds seems to be between 12:00 noon and 1:00pm Jan.29 at that time-12 vultures.Jan. 30th at that time 14 vultures Feb.1st. 14 vultures and 2 Ravens. and on Jan 26th there was a red tail hawk that dropped in.

Comments: January 30th. 12:45 pm. There were 8  vultures on the ground feeding at that time.   S.J.H. 

Reply:
According to this bird list they do winter in Nova Scotia.

http://museum.gov.ns.ca/mnh/nature/winbirds/biglist.htm

1) Where's the best place to study them around here?
In Yarmouth they frequent the Pembrooke-Overton-Milton area.  I have also seen them picking up some dead object on the road by the South Ohio off ramp.

2)  Where do they nest?
Turkey vultures do not actually build a nest.

3) What brought them here to N.S. as it's a tropical bird?
They have been here before note question below.  Maybe the climate is warming. Maybe populations are increasing and they are expanding their range.   Maybe they are not as tropical perceived.  It may be part of a normal cycle,( Example:  I have a cactus growing in my back yard it survived last winter out their and is still doing well.) Our variety is much smaller.

4) Appr. how many turkey vultures are there around here? 
I don't think anyone can give you an exact count.  My guess is maybe 50 + scattered through various areas from the valley across to the South Shore. (Piers' notes refer to museum specimens (not extant) taken from Clarks Harbour, Shelburne County, in fall 1892 and from Pugwash, Cumberland County, about 1899 (S)
Bird Counts: http://www.juneswift.ca/October04.html

5) What do they feed on? Road kill? Or the fish? Or what kind of food are they looking for?
They will feed on freshly killed animals,  they do not like rotten meat.

The following link will provide you with some interesting information on this fascinating bird.
TURKEY VULTURE tidbits . . . . .  http://www.valleywild.org/TVfacts.htm
Range and Voice: http://www.percevia.com/explorer/db/birds_of_north_america_western/obj/117/target.aspx

Question:  I live on the mood rd.out by elenwood park. there was what we thought was a turkey vulture. But it looked more grey with a bald head and only a little red under it's neck. Would this be an immature bird?     Thanks sally 

Reply:  I am not a bird expert but you assessment may be correct. They are not that spectacular looking and you would need a good look to see the markings .  On report was that there were 6 on the road at same time  Starrs Rd. 

I have not yet been able to get a good picture of one. I have seen them on several occasions flying over Yarmouth

"Description Length: 66-81 cm. Adults: Head and upper neck bare, skin crimson; rest of plumage blackish, paler on flight feathers; bill stout and hooked, grayish white. Immature: Similar but head and neck are covered with dark, fur-like feathers." (2)