Hi all... these beauties have been flying around our house the past few days, and as I'm new to the area, I'm still learning what we have here. I know there are eagles up the mountain from us, and I rather think these may be a hawk of some kind, but I don't know. They are quite large. Anyone know? I will try to get some better pics...
Brenda
Another shot...
Turkey Vulture - all black/blackish, except for the red head (just visible!) and the dark grey-brown flight feathers.
Resin
Turkey vulture. huh. That's not very exciting, is it? But they are much prettier than other vultures I've seen. Thanks for the ID!
Brenda
One way I can always tell them is by what looks like the three fingers at the tip of the wings. Sometimes with the sun and lighting can hardy tell whether hawk, eagle or vulture but that wing tip always tells me.
D
Good tip, D! We just moved to Colorado full time so I have lots of new wildlife to learn about! Thank you!
Brenda
Another key for Turkey Vulture is that they soar with their wings set in a shallow, but definite V (dihedral), any other large soaring bird will glide with their wings pretty much straight out to the side. Also, their head is not feathered, and therefore looks quite small. And they fly with it drooped down, so they often look as if they have no head at all--as in your first picture.
They are really quite majestic in flight. One of my favorites.
They are very beautiful in flight! We have many that fly around near us.
