How to Tell a Black Vulture from a Turkey Vulture

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By Virginia Allain
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Oh no, a vulture

In TV westerns, the vultures circle overhead signaling that someone is in trouble in the sagebrush. In real life, it's most likely just roadkill that they are after. Here's how to tell two common vultures apart.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

good eyesight
or binoculars

Step 1

Black or Turkey Vulture??

DIFFERENCES WHEN FLYING: Seen overhead, it's not easy to differentiate between the two types. Both types of vultures have a large wingspan with black feathers. The turkey vulture is slightly larger, but this doesn't help with identification when they are high in the sky. According to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, the black vulture flaps its wings more often as it soars.
The turkey vulture has a longer and rounder tail than the black vulture.
Step 2

Flock of black vultures

GROUP OR SOLO? You are more likely to see the black vulture traveling in large flocks than the less social turkey vulture. I have seen three or four turkey vultures together, but usually when there's a good sized group, it's the black vulture.
Step 3

Black Vultures

HEAD COLOR: The most obvious difference is the head. The black vulture has a dark unfeathered head.
Step 4

Click on the picture to see the red head.

The turkey vulture has a red featherless head.
Step 5

Both vultures are seen gathered around carrion.

Comments

Wasatch said

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on 11/16/2008 Fun article. When I was in the Boy Scouts my dad used to say "sometimes you will mistake a Turkey Vulture for an Eagle, but you will NEVER mistake an Eagle for a Turkey Vulture." It is one of my favorite quotes. he inspired me to be an Eagle. I heard him give the same advice to my sisters when they started dating. :)

iamageniuster said

on 11/14/2008 Great article. I really appreciate it.

Inkling said

on 11/12/2008 Good idea. My appreciation goes out to the vultures for keeping the roads clean. Thanks for the info. I've seen them close up at the zoo but never thought to go for my binoculars when they're flying nearby.