Turkey Vultures: Running on Fumes

Turkey Vultures travel thousands of miles each spring, returning from wintering grounds as far south as Venezuela to breeding grounds across North America. They arrive so depleted that they’ve lost half their body weight. Hungry and running on fumes, they’ll stop for any meal they can find. On our roads, that means roadkill and the traffic that comes with it. What happens on the pavement, and why it matters, isn’t what most people expect. 

Often reviled and misunderstood, Turkey Vultures owe their effectiveness to the very traits many people find hard to stomach: their appearance and diet. That featherless head? It keeps the bird clean while feeding on what other animals won’t — or can’t. What goes in is quickly neutralized. Turkey Vultures have digestive juices among the most acidic of any animal, powerful enough to destroy anthrax and botulinum toxin outright.

And those wide-open nostrils? They pick up the faintest scent of decay long before it’s visible. In the 1930s, a Texas field engineer at a natural gas company struggling to locate leaks along a remote pipeline proposed using Turkey Vultures to help find them. Because ethyl mercaptan — the compound that gives natural gas its distinctive odor — mimics the scent of decay, the company introduced it into the line and waited. Where vultures circled or landed, leaks were found. Three decades later, ornithologist Kenneth Stager formally confirmed what the engineer had observed: Turkey Vultures locate food by smell. Add in a wingspan wider than I am tall (I’m 5’3”), built for long, energy-conserving glides on rising air, and you have one impressive bird.

Vultures are more beneficial than most people realize, and when vultures disappear, the consequences can be dramatic. In India, three species of Old World vultures collapsed, after diclofenac — a common livestock painkiller similar to ibuprofen — proved fatal when vultures fed on treated cattle. Dead animals accumulated, feral dog numbers surged, and rabies cases rose. What had long been held in balance came undone — and it was costly, forcing the government to divert funds to manage the fallout. India banned diclofenac for veterinary use in 2006, but with population losses exceeding 90%, these vultures have yet to recover.

Their impact goes beyond keeping diseases in check. By consuming remains quickly, Turkey Vultures also reduce greenhouse gases that would otherwise be released as carcasses decompose or are collected and processed. In a year, a single Turkey Vulture can offset about 50 to 90 kilograms of carbon emissions — roughly the equivalent of driving 125 to 225 miles. Across an estimated 13 million Turkey Vultures in the Americas, those climate savings add up.

But the easy meals that draw Turkey Vultures to our roads also put them in danger. A recent study based on nearly 20 years of tracking data from Hawk Mountain Sanctuary and the U.S. Department of Agriculture shows that this risk is greatest during spring migration, when birds are more dependent on roadkill and may be slower to get out of the way of a speeding car due to their poor body condition.

The pattern is clear: The denser the road network, the higher the risk. For a returning Turkey Vulture, a meal on the road is a dangerous one.

Rosalie Edge, who founded Hawk Mountain Sanctuary, said nearly a century ago, “The time to save a species is while it is still common.” The team from Hawk Mountain Sanctuary and the U.S. Department of Agriculture continues to build on that idea, using GPS tracking to follow how the Turkey Vultures included in this study move and survive alongside us, and to inform what happens next. Turkey Vultures are still common, and that’s precisely when what we do matters.

Adrian Naveda-Rodriguez, Ph.D., led that study, which was published as an Editor’s Choice article in Ornithological Applications. When I spoke with him, he put it plainly: “So far, I don’t think we really appreciate, on this continent, the ecosystem services provided by vultures. … They are very efficient, more efficient than us, and we don’t have to pay for that.” On what the public could do to support Turkey Vultures, he had plenty to say.

What You Can Do

Slow Down. When you see a Turkey Vulture or any scavenger feeding near a road, ease off the gas and give it time to get airborne. Birds returning from migration are tired and slower to lift off. A few seconds of patience can make a difference.

Think Before You Toss. Food thrown from car windows doesn’t disappear; it lands on roadsides and draws animals, such as Turkey Vultures, into traffic. It’s a small habit with outsized consequences. Learn more by reading The Message of the Apple Core.

Push for Better Driver Education. Most drivers don’t intend to hit wild animals, but when it happens, it leaves behind a meal that draws scavengers into traffic. Better driver education can reduce those collisions, protecting wildlife while also lowering the risk to birds like Turkey Vultures. Encouraging birding groups, conservation organizations, and school boards to advocate for the inclusion of wildlife-aware driving in driver education is a small step that could shape the next generation’s thinking about the animals that share our roads.

Work With Your Local Transportation Department. In some rural areas, road crews move animal remains off the road rather than haul them away. Drivers stay safe, and scavengers like Turkey Vultures can feed without risk. Wisconsin’s Department of Transportation has adopted this approach, treating roadkill as a resource rather than waste. It’s a simple, low-cost idea worth considering for your community.

Track It. Citizen science roadkill tracking programs in Oregon and elsewhere let you report roadkill using apps like iNaturalist. That data helps identify hotspots and build the case for wildlife crossings. If your state doesn’t have a program yet, it’s worth asking about. 

Pay Attention to the Legislation. The Black Vulture Relief Act of 2025, currently advancing through Congress, would allow farmers to kill Black Vultures without a federal permit. Concerns about livestock are real, but research suggests that confirmed losses are far lower than reported, and Black Vultures often follow Turkey Vultures to food sources. At a distance, the two are easily confused, putting Turkey Vultures, which pose no threat to livestock, at risk. Contacting your representatives and urging support for non-lethal alternatives is timely and necessary.

Spread the Word. The myths that make Turkey Vultures easy to dismiss also make them easy to harm. Every person who understands what these birds do is one more person who is likely to slow down, step up, and speak out on their behalf.