Missouri Turkey Vultures

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Welcome to the Missouri Turkey Vultures! This nest is located in the top of a barn in Marshall, Missouri. Turkey vultures have only recently begun nesting again after an absence of several years. In 2022, the vultures laid egg #1 on April 23 @ 4:45 AM.

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About the Marshall Turkey Vultures

About the Turkey Vultures

The Marshall Turkey Vultures are nesting in an empty hay loft in a barn on private property near Marshall, MO. In general, vultures arrive in late March or early April and lay eggs in early May. Hatch begins about 28 days after the second egg is laid. Both parents incubate eggs and brood young.

Vultures eat primarily carrion. Although they prefer relatively fresh carrion, they are unable to tear carcasses open, which means they must wait until a carcass putrefies or is opened by mammals or larger vultures. This may be why they have been documented following bald eagles and black vultures.

Adult Turkey Vultures regurgitate food for their young, who fledge roughly sixty days after hatching. To learn more about turkey vultures in general, please follow this link to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology website.

Adults

We will have more information after the adults return. Although vultures are classified as a member of the order  Accipitriformes, and so related to hawks, eagles, and falcons, males and female birds are similar in size and lack the strong feet and talons of most Accipitriforme birds.

Nests

Turkey vultures lay eggs in dark, quiet recesses, including rock outcrops, mammal burrows, hollow logs, thickets, hollow trees, abandoned stick nests, and abandoned buildings. Nest sites must be dark and isolated from human disturbance.

Quick facts
Common name: Turkey vulture
Scientific name: Cathartes aura
Both Sexes
Length: 25.2-31.9 in (64-81 cm) | Weight: 70.5 oz (2000 g)
Wingspan: 66.9-70.1 in (170-178 cm)
Lifespan: 20+ years in the wild. The oldest known turkey vulture, Tolouse, is 38 years old, and lives at the San Francisco Zoo.

Turkey Vulture Vocalization
This vocalization was taken from our cam in 2013. It includes two young vultures food begging and chasing a parent.

Learn More About Bald Eagles
Development of an avian embryo

Peek inside a bald eagle egg: 24 days!

There are two eagle eggs in Decorah trout hatchery nest N1. DH1 is about 27 days old and DH2 is about 25 days old. What do they look like? Let’s take a peek!  What do embyronic eagles look they look like as they develop and grow inside their eggs? Dr. Peter Sharpe from the Institute for Wildlife Studies developed a table of bald eagle embryonic development based on work done by Hamburger and Hamilton (1951). While this animation uses a chicken

Egg Colors and Shapes

The Chicago Peregrine Program inspired me to write a quick blog on the colors and shapes of eggs. Bald eagles have white eggs, peregrine falcons have eggs that range from light cream through brick red, and red-tailed hawks have pale eggs that are lightly splotched with brown. How and why do the birds we watch lay differently-colored and shaped eggs? Egg Colors Where do egg colors come from? Once a bird’s egg enters its shell gland or uterus, it is

Chicken embryos roughly 25% of the way to hatch

Peek inside a bald eagle egg: 11 days!

What do embryonic eagles look they look like as they develop and grow inside their eggs? Dr. Peter Sharpe from the Institute for Wildlife Studies developed a table of bald eagle embryonic development based on work done by Hamburger and Hamilton (1951). While not all bald eagle eggs hatch in 35 days, the stages of development look something like this… What happens between the third and the 11th day? When we last touched on the topic, our embryonic eagle had

February 21, 2022: North Nestoration Follies!

What Makes Bald Eagles Incubate?

We wrote this blog a year ago. I wanted to revisit it given the events at the North nest this year. Mr. North and DNF have been dealing with intruders for a couple of weeks. Instead of perching near the nest, packing in food, and developing the reserves she needs to lay eggs, DNF is guarding her nest, egg, and mate from potential rivals. After egg number one, her testosterone and progesterone should rapidly decrease, while prolactin, a hormone that

An embryonic bird at 33 hours

Peek inside a bald eagle egg: 4 days!

As of this writing, we’re still waiting for eggs at Fort St. Vrain. The first Decorah North egg is seven days old and the second is four days old. What do embryonic eagles look like as they grow and develop inside their eggs? Dr. Peter Sharpe from the Institute for Wildlife Studies developed a table of bald eagle embryonic development based on work done by Hamburger and Hamilton (1951). While not all bald eagle eggs hatch in 35 days, the

Click for More About Bald Eagles
News

We not have any Turkey Vulture news. Keep checking back!

Development of an avian embryo

Peek inside a bald eagle egg: 24 days!

There are two eagle eggs in Decorah trout hatchery nest N1. DH1 is about 27 days old and DH2 is about 25 days old. What do they look like? Let’s take a peek!  What do embyronic eagles look they look like as they develop and grow inside their eggs? Dr. Peter Sharpe from the Institute for Wildlife Studies developed a table of bald eagle embryonic development based on work done by Hamburger and Hamilton (1951). While this animation uses a chicken

March 24, 2023: The broken egg at the north nest

The Norths’ egg has broken

The Norths’ lone egg broke on March 21 at about 3:00 PM. We posted about the lone egg and intraspecific intruders at the North nest on March 16: https://www.raptorresource.org/2023/03/16/nest-guarding-and-intraspecific-intrusions/. Given that the egg wasn’t viable, this is good news. It is early enough that the North’s might be able to reclutch/recycle. The two have been nestorating and copulating, and Mr. North has been bringing food gifts. We’ll see what happens! No related posts.

March 20. 2023: HM glows in the bright, warm sunlight.

March 20, 2023: What are we looking forward to this week?

What are we looking forward to this week? On Friday, we’ll be hosting a movie night at Convergence Ciderworks in Decorah! Come watch EaglePower with John, Dave, and Amy, meet Dave’s Red-tailed Hawk Jewel, learn more about our programs, and drink delicious cider. Doors open at 5:30 and the program starts at 6pm. More here: https://www.facebook.com/events/1404200043743501. We’re in what Bob used to call the incubation doldrums at our Decorah Hatchery and Xcel Energy Fort St. Vrain eagle nests. But we’re

March 16, 2023: Mr. North and his last evening of incubation.

Nest-guarding and intraspecific intrusions

The Decorah North Eagles have been dealing with a lot of intraspecific intrusions this year. Intrusions happen when members of other species encroach on or enter a nest in search of food, nesting materials, or a nest: think squirrels, mice, raccoons, chickadees, woodpeckers, red-tailed hawks, house sparrows, and other animals we’ve seen in and around our nests. Intraspecific intrusions happen when other eagles intrude on daily nest activities in search of food, new mates, or breeding territories. They can lead

March 8, 2023: Mr. North at the North Nest. He is an awesome, dedicated father and is doing his best to care for the egg.

Monday. March 13: NestFlix and News

Ma FSV laid her third egg at Xcel Energy’s Fort St. Vrain nest on Thursday, March 8, which brings the total number of eggs in our nests to six: three at FSV, two in Decorah, and one at Decorah North. DNF and Mr. North’s lone egg is 21 days old, HM and HD’s two eggs are 16 and 13 days old, and Ma and Pa Jrs eggs are eleven, eight, and four days old! Here’s a peek at what’s going

>> More News
Nest Records
Turkey Vulture 2023 Nest Records

Egg Laying
In 2022, the vultures laid egg #1 on April 23 @ 4:45 AM
Egg Hatching
In 2022, the first egg hatched on May 30 @ 12:45 AM

Fledging
In 2022, both vulturettes fledged on August 8.

Vultures and Outcomes >> Detailed Annual Information

Year Nest  Chicks Known Outcomes
2022 Marshall Turkey Vultures MOTV3, MOTV4 The vultures laid two eggs and produced two chicks.
2021 Marshall Turkey Vultures MOTV1, MOTV2 The vultures laid two eggs and produced two chicks.
Missouri Turkey Vulture Video Library

Missouri Turkey Vulture Video Library

Click the hamburger icon on the top right of the video below to watch this year’s videos, or view our full Missouri Turkey Vulture library on youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/RaptorResourceProject.