#1022 · 🐦 birds
Turkey Vulture
🇳🇱 Roodkopgier ·Cathartes aura
📍 San Simeon, CA 93452, USA
📍 San Simeon, CA 93452, USA
📍 Hutchinson County, TX, USA
📍 Sasagawa, Tonosho, Katori District, Chiba, Japan
📍 Lake Hodges, Escondido, CA 92029, USA
10 photos from iNaturalist (Creative Commons) · credits & licences
- 1. © Seig · CC BY 4.0
- 2. © Peterwchen · CC BY-SA 4.0
- 3. © eduardovieira17 · CC BY-NC 4.0
- 4. © Manuel A. Pérez R. · CC BY-NC 4.0
- 5. © Keri Charles · CC BY-NC 4.0
- 6. San Simeon, CA 93452, USA:© w_fran · CC BY-NC 4.0
- 7. San Simeon, CA 93452, USA:© w_fran · CC BY-NC 4.0
- 8. Hutchinson County, TX, USA:© Greg Lasley · CC BY-NC 4.0
- 9. Sasagawa, Tonosho, Katori District, Chiba, Japan:© Gerben ter Haar · CC BY-NC 4.0
- 10. Lake Hodges, Escondido, CA 92029, USA:© tracyhench · CC BY-NC 4.0
what is it?
The turkey vulture ( Cathartes aura ), also known in some North American regions as the turkey buzzard (or just buzzard ), and in some areas of the Caribbean as the John crow or carrion crow , is the most widespread of the New World vultures. One of three species in the genus Cathartes of the family Cathartidae, the turkey vulture ranges from southern Canada to the southernmost tip of South America. It inhabits a variety of open and semi-open...
base stats
Bars compare against all animals on log scales: up to 300,000 Dutch and 600,000 worldwide sightings (the most-seen species), 150 t (blue whale), 30 m and 400 years (Greenland shark).
fun facts
- No confirmed wild sightings in the Netherlands on iNaturalist: you'd have to travel for this one.
- 277,600 observations worldwide on iNaturalist.
- Scientifically named in 1758 (268 years ago).
fact sheet
- English
- Turkey Vulture
- Nederlands
- Roodkopgier
- scientific name
- Cathartes aura
- class
- Aves
- order
- Cathartiformes
- family
- Cathartidae
- IUCN Red List
- LC · least concern
- sightings in NL
- 0
- sightings in Europe
- 1
- sightings worldwide
- 277,600
- GBIF records in NL
- 6
- weight
- —
- length
- —
- lifespan
- —
- named
- 1758
IUCN in Dutch: niet bedreigd. Blank means the sources don't say.
relatives· Cathartidae
Sources: iNaturalist taxon 4756, Wikidata Q245181, GBIF 2481930, Wikipedia (EN), Wikipedia (NL). Intro text from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0).Updated 2026-10-24.