Nesting
Nesting Facts
- Clutch Size
- 1–3 eggs
- Number of Broods
- 1 broods
- Egg Length
- 2.6–3 in
6.5–7.5 cm - Egg Width
- 1.7–2.1 in
4.4–5.3 cm - Incubation Period
- 28–40 days
- Nestling Period
- 60–84 days
- Egg Description
- Creamy white tinged with gray, blue, or green, and spotted with purple to brown.
- Condition at Hatching
- Downy, often blind, and defenseless beyond a quiet hiss.
Nest Description
Turkey Vultures don’t build full nests. They may scrape out a spot in the soil or leaf litter, pull aside obstacles, or arrange scraps of vegetation or rotting wood. Once found, many of these nest sites may be used repeatedly for a decade or more.
Nest Placement
Cliff
Turkey Vultures nest in rock crevices, caves, ledges, thickets, mammal burrows and hollow logs, fallen trees, abandoned hawk or heron nests, and abandoned buildings. These nest sites are typically much cooler (by 13°F or more) than surroundings, and isolated from human traffic or disturbance. While they often feed near humans, Turkey Vultures prefer to nest far away from civilization.
The quiet hiss part weirds me out for some reason.
ReplyDeleteA couple of times I've seen a turkey vulture or two on the beach eating a dead sea lion. It looks worse when they are there. The sea gulls aren't such an ominous presence, though they are there for the same reason.
ReplyDeleteI'm surprised at how small their eggs are, considering how large the adults become.
ReplyDeleteI guess then that they are quiet about the nesting because I have only seen them in trees and not ever on the ground. Thanks, Mary. Let me know when you see some ground buzzards. I am sure their babies are cool.
ReplyDelete