Hi jamie,
Thank you for a very interesting question! :)
As requested, I'm posting the information I was able to locate, and at
the end of the article you'll find some interesting facts about the
Turkey Vulture.
You are very correct about the bird rarely flapping it's wings while in flight.
http://www.desertusa.com/magdec97/dec_pap/du_tkvulture.html
"In flight, the Turkey Vulture rocks from side to side, rarely
flapping its wings which are held at a V-angle called a dihedral.
Silver-gray flight feathers look lighter than the black lining
feathers of the underwing. Its long tail extends beyond its legs and
feet in flight."
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The article I found referred to a very similar incident that took
place on November 2, 1968 in Florida.
If my findings are satisfactory, please let me know and I will post
this information as the official answer to your question.
Here is the literature I found, along with a wonderful black and white
photo - Scroll about 1/3 down the page.
Turkey Vultures land on vessel in fog.
http://elibrary.unm.edu/sora/Auk/v086n04/p0766-p0767.pdf
Turkey Vultures land on vessel in fog.--
"On 2 November 1968 the yacht 'Gay-Ted,' a 57-foot, twin-screw diesel
cruiser, was crossing Florida Bay, coming from Marathon headed for
Cape Sable. The weather was dead calm, the sea was smooth, and a
low-lying fog on the water cut visibility to about 1/2 mile. The
vessel was proceeding
at a speed of about 19 knots when a flock of about 50 Turkey Vultures
(Cathartes aura) came out of the fog and attempted to land on the
ship. The speed of the ship was too great for them, but one bird did
succeed in landing on the roof of the aft deckhouse. It soon fell off,
dropped into the wake, and drowned. We then slowed down to about 10
knots, and the whole flock promptly landed all over the ship from stem
to stern--we counted 55. The vessel was about 8 miles from the nearest
land at this point.
The birds were so exhausted that they would let us come up and
actually touch them. Some of them after landing regurgitated partly
digested mice and other objects on the deck. The birds showed no
interest whatsoever in the passengers, among whom needless to say they
caused some apprehension. The vessel certainly did look like a "ship
of death" going through the fog with its load of vultures.
The speed of the vessel was then returned to 19 knots, and the Turkey
Vultures stayed aboard. In about 20 minutes the fog started thinning a
little and the shoreline of Cape Sable became visible approximately 3
miles away.
See photo - Figure 1. Turkey Vultures on the 'Gay-Ted' in Florida Bay.
The birds saw the shoreline and about half of them took off and headed
for Cape Sable. Of the some 25 that took wing, 12 tried to return to
the vessel after they had flown out about 1/4 mile. Three of these
dropped into the water exhausted and didn't make it.
At Cape Sable light we changed course eastward toward Flamingo. When
the vessel got within a mile of land, the remaining birds started
taking off, and they apparently did make it back to the Everglades.
After docking at Flamingo we found one vulture still on the vessel
under the seat in the dinghy--it soon flew off.
We have discussed the incident with many professional captains and
guide-boat operators in the area, and we have yet to hear of a single
similar occurrence involving vultures.
--W?r?x? R. MoT?, Mote Marine Laboratory, Sarasota, Florida 33581."
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Clumsy on the Ground - Agile in the Air
http://www.zoo.org/educate/fact_sheets/raptors/vulture.htm
"These large birds move awkwardly on the ground, walking or hopping
clumsily with a sideways hitch. When preparing to take flight, a
turkey vulture leans forward, takes a few steps, hops and then pushes
off with its legs while flapping its wings.
Once airborne, turkey vultures become birds of grace and agility.
Using their large, broad wings to ride warm air thermals, they soar
upward and rarely have to flap their wings.
Turkey vultures are easy to identify in flight. Their wings are held
in a V-shape, or dihedral, over their back. Because they are very
light for their size, they tend to teeter back and forth in the wind."
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http://www.pointreyes.net/notes/raptors/
"Vultures tend to gorge when they can (since they are not predators,
they are not in control of their own food supply). They will
regurgitate when threatened (possibly this lets them move faster if
they have just gorged)."
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Last buy not least!
http://www.holoweb.com/cannon/turkedy.htm
"Interesting notes: Turkey vultures have a highly developed sense of
smell, something most birds don't have, including other vulture
species. They often depend on the odors given off by decaying flesh
for locating food (Stager 1964). They have weak claws and usually
cannot carry anything in them while flying, but they are capable of
carrying small amounts of food in their beaks over short distances
(Palmer 1988a).
Interesting studies and observations have been made regarding the
turkey vulture's sense of smell, in fact, a debate on this topic
lasted over a century. Even today, there is still some argument on the
subject (see Smith and Paselk 1986). Some researchers thought turkey
vultures relied on vision (which they do, to some extent) and/or
hearing. One researcher even thought they used an "occult" sense to
locate food (Stager 1964). Two separate studies, however, seem to
indicate that smell is the preferred mechanism for finding food. In
both studies researchers hid decaying flesh, only to have turkey
vultures fly right to the hidden meat (Stager 1964; Snyder and Snyder
1991).
Other interesting evidence of the turkey vulture's ability to smell
comes to us, of all places, from the natural gas industry. A retired
engineer for Union Oil stated his company used turkey vultures to find
gas leaks. Natural gas has no odor, but a substance is added to the
gas so that leaks can be detected in pipelines, stoves, or furnaces.
This substance, called ethyl mercaptan, is one of the chemicals
emitted from carrion and thus attracts turkey vultures. Union Oil
Engineers were sometimes able to find pipeline leaks by looking for
turkey vultures circling above the gas lines (Stager 1964). While
higher-tech methods are usually used these days to locate such leaks,
some animals are still utilized (see the "Interesting notes" section
under Coyote)."
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I used a variety of the following keywords for my search:
turkey vulture drowning flapping flight wings fog chesapeake bay maryland
Cathartes aura boat water
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Best regards,
tlspiegel |
