Unknown Bird Found On Lawn. (Plenty of Pics)

Originally posted by spanishcaravan
Ya,as stated before me its a turkey vulture.

Nope, It's a blcak vulture. Turkey vultures have red heads.

That is a teenage Turkey Vulture. You can tell because of the red head now showing through. When they are older it is all red and the down on the head is gone. I used to work a BASH program when active duty AF it was my job to ID the birds we hit with the jets and those on and around the base.

I just saw one myself (a mature redhead) whilst visiting my hometown last week in NWPA.

Another vote for TV.

We have these birds in the South to.
We call them Turkey Buzzards.

Originally posted by viperwrench
That is a teenage Turkey Vulture. You can tell because of the red head now showing through. When they are older it is all red and the down on the head is gone. I used to work a BASH program when active duty AF it was my job to ID the birds we hit with the jets and those on and around the base.

Ok, I didn't see that red. You may be right. It is kind of hard to tell by those pictures, though.

One neat thing about vultures is their defense mechanism,

If you threaten them, they puke on you.

Since they eat rotten meat, that can be pretty nasty.

Originally posted by viperwrench
...I used to work a BASH program when active duty AF it was my job to ID the birds we hit with the jets and those on and around the base.

Oh man, that quote just made my day. Getting paid to look at dead birds all day must rock. Thanks for all the help guys, Im pretty sure now that it was a turkey vulture. Because I've never seen vultures in New Jersey, I assumed that this bird was some sort of anomally.

How do vultures stop them selves from getting infections and whatnot if they're always sticking their heads into decaying animals and eating them? What if the vulture had a cut on it and some of the animal's blood went into the cut?

It looks like a volture to me too. Don't know what kind???

www.nps.gov...
"it's Turkey Vultures!!"

LMAO
Too funny.
That's a turkey. LOL

We have them all over the place... right in my own front (and back) yard.

Originally posted by TheB1ueSoldier
I never knew that vultures lived in New Jersey. I always thought that they lived in the midwest.

I did a quick AOL search. I found 5 Vulture festivals, but only copied the one from your New Jersey area. vulturesociety.homestead.com...
There is one here in Northeast Ohio, also, but I already knew about it.

Gloucester County, New Jersey
Vulture Festival

Ok now that we've all identified the vulture and got our "carrion claw" scout badges.
Can anyone identify the other bird with the red breast?
I used to feed a pair on my windowsill back in Jersey,
had the damnest time trying to ID them though.

Originally posted by Legalizer
Can anyone identify the other bird with the red breast?

common robin. got plenty in chi town. and a zillion pigeons

It is not a buzzard. Redtailed hawks are buzzards. Buzzards are raptors of the genus Buteo and Parabuteo. Many people commonly mistake the term.

[edit on 22-3-2007 by Uplifted]