Animalia > Chordata > Aves > Accipitriformes > Cathartidae > Cathartes > Cathartes aura

Cathartes aura (Turkey Vulture)

Synonyms: Oenops aura; Vultur aura
Language: French; Spanish

Wikipedia Abstract

The turkey vulture (Cathartes aura), also known in some North American regions as the turkey buzzard (or just buzzard), and in some areas of the Caribbean as the John crow or carrion crow, is a vulture that is the most widespread of the New World vultures. One of three species in the genus Cathartes of the family Cathartidae, the turkey vulture ranges from southern Canada to the southernmost tip of South America. It inhabits a variety of open and semi-open areas, including subtropical forests, shrublands, pastures, and deserts.
View Wikipedia Record: Cathartes aura

Infraspecies

Cathartes aura aura (Western turkey vulture)
Cathartes aura falklandicus
Cathartes aura jota
Cathartes aura meridionalis
Cathartes aura ruficollis
Cathartes aura septentrionalis (Eastern turkey vulture) (Attributes)

EDGE Analysis

Uniqueness Scale: Similiar (0) 
14
 Unique (100)
Uniqueness & Vulnerability Scale: Similiar & Secure (0) 
41
 Unique & Vulnerable (100)
ED Score: 28.7931
EDGE Score: 3.39427
Learn more at EDGE of Existence programme

Attributes

Adult Weight [1]  3.567 lbs (1.618 kg)
Birth Weight [3]  60 grams
Female Weight [1]  3.993 lbs (1.811 kg)
Male Weight [1]  3.144 lbs (1.426 kg)
Weight Dimorphism [1]  27 %
Breeding Habitat [2]  Generalist
Wintering Geography [2]  Widespread
Wintering Habitat [2]  Generalist, Agricultural
Diet [4]  Carnivore (Vertebrates)
Diet - Scavenger [4]  100 %
Forages - Ground [4]  100 %
Clutch Size [5]  2
Clutches / Year [3]  1
Fledging [1]  75 days
Global Population (2017 est.) [2]  23,000,000
Incubation [3]  39 days
Mating Display [6]  Ground and non-acrobatic aerial display
Maximum Longevity [3]  21 years
Raptor Research Conservation Priority [7]  144
Snout to Vent Length [1]  27 inches (69 cm)
Wing Span [8]  5.674 feet (1.73 m)
Female Maturity [3]  11 years
Male Maturity [3]  11 years

Ecoregions

Protected Areas

+ Click for partial list (100)Full list (369)

Ecosystems

Important Bird Areas

Biodiversity Hotspots

Prey / Diet

Prey / Diet Overlap

Predators

Aquila chrysaetos (Golden Eagle)[9]
Vulpes vulpes (Red Fox)[10]

Providers

Shelter 
Fagus grandifolia (American beech)[10]
Quercus phellos (Willow Oak)[10]
Quercus velutina (Black Oak)[10]

Consumers

Parasitized by 
Mesostephanus appendiculatoides[12]
Paryphostomum huaccaci <Unverified Name>[12]

Range Map

External References

NatureServe Explorer

Citations

Attributes / relations provided by
♦ 1Nathan P. Myhrvold, Elita Baldridge, Benjamin Chan, Dhileep Sivam, Daniel L. Freeman, and S. K. Morgan Ernest. 2015. An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles. Ecology 96:3109
♦ 2Partners in Flight Avian Conservation Assessment Database, version 2017. Accessed on January 2018.
♦ 3de Magalhaes, J. P., and Costa, J. (2009) A database of vertebrate longevity records and their relation to other life-history traits. Journal of Evolutionary Biology 22(8):1770-1774
♦ 4Hamish Wilman, Jonathan Belmaker, Jennifer Simpson, Carolina de la Rosa, Marcelo M. Rivadeneira, and Walter Jetz. 2014. EltonTraits 1.0: Species-level foraging attributes of the world's birds and mammals. Ecology 95:2027
♦ 5Jetz W, Sekercioglu CH, Böhning-Gaese K (2008) The Worldwide Variation in Avian Clutch Size across Species and Space PLoS Biol 6(12): e303. doi:10.1371/journal.pbio.0060303
♦ 6Terje Lislevand, Jordi Figuerola, and Tamás Székely. 2007. Avian body sizes in relation to fecundity, mating system, display behavior, and resource sharing. Ecology 88:1605
♦ 7Buechley ER, Santangeli A, Girardello M, et al. Global raptor research and conservation priorities: Tropical raptors fall prey to knowledge gaps. Divers Distrib. 2019;25:856–869. https://doi.org/10.1111/ddi.12901
♦ 8DETERMINATION OF BODY DENSITY FOR TWELVE BIRD SPECIES, DAVID M. HAMERSHOCK, THOMAS W. SEAMANS, GLEN E. BERNHARDT, WRIGHT LAB WRIGHT-PATTERSON AFB OH (1993)
♦ 9Jorrit H. Poelen, James D. Simons and Chris J. Mungall. (2014). Global Biotic Interactions: An open infrastructure to share and analyze species-interaction datasets. Ecological Informatics.
♦ 10Study of Northern Virginia Ecology
♦ 11Sylvilagus palustris, Joseph A. Chapman and Gale R. Willner, Mammalian Species No. 153, pp. 1-3 (1981)
♦ 12Gibson, D. I., Bray, R. A., & Harris, E. A. (Compilers) (2005). Host-Parasite Database of the Natural History Museum, London
Ecoregions provided by World Wide Fund For Nature (WWF). WildFinder: Online database of species distributions, ver. 01.06 Wildfinder Database
Biodiversity Hotspots provided by Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund
Abstract provided by DBpedia licensed under a Creative Commons License
Species taxanomy provided by GBIF Secretariat (2022). GBIF Backbone Taxonomy. Checklist dataset https://doi.org/10.15468/39omei accessed via GBIF.org on 2023-06-13; License: CC BY 4.0