Use Your Inside Voice
Take a deep breath, and then give your best impression of a crow cawing. I’ll be here waiting until you finish . . .
So, how did it go? Are you being mobbed by crows right now? Hopefully you weren’t in the library or else you might have to apologize for the noise AND the sudden swarm of crows. When you make a caw, or any sound, you are using your voice box, also called the larynx. Turkey vultures do not have a larynx, which means they can only really make hissing and grunting sounds. This is also why so many turkey vultures end up going to mime school.
Keep an eye out for turkey vultures . . .
. . . because keeping an ear out for these quiet critters probably won’t help you spot them. There’s a good chance you’ve seen them swirling in the sky at one point or another. Often folks think the vultures are circling over some dead animal that they’ve found, but really the birds are probably just using hot air that is rising up from the earth to help them coast along on their way to somewhere else. When you see a large group of them circling around on one of those hot columns of air, it is referred to as a “kettle” of vultures.
Besides up in the sky, you’re likely to spot a turkey vulture feasting on some roadkill along the highway. They are usually in a group and often joined by black vultures, which tend to be a little smaller than a turkey vulture and have dark heads instead of the bright red head of a turkey vulture. It is also not uncommon to see a group of turkey vultures roosting on dead trees, utility poles and towers, and even light towers around sports fields.
Need to hear more from turkey vultures?
While turkey vultures are more of the strong and silent types, there’s plenty of cool info out there to tickle your ears about turkey vultures.
Kids, remember to ask a parent, teacher, or librarian for help whenever you are looking for books or using the Internet. I always try to make sure to share kid-friendly books and resources, but websites are changing all the time, so always check with an adult first.
- Despite having no voice box, turkey vultures can still produce a distinct hissing sound. You can listen to some samples here: https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Turkey_Vulture/sounds
- The BirdNote broadcasts are always fun and in this one you can learn a little more about the syrinx and how birds sing their songs. https://www.birdnote.org/listen/shows/how-birds-produce-sound
- While we’re listening for bird voices, here’s a Sounds Wild episode from the Alaska Department of Fish and Game that speaks a little more on birdsongs and the syrinx. https://www.adfg.alaska.gov/index.cfm?adfg=soundswild.episode&id=birdsongs-and-the-syrinx
- This Bird Academy video from the CornellLab of Ornithology has some great examples of how to listen for the songs of a bird you’ve probably seen before, the Northern Cardinal. The video also has a short demonstration of how birds use their special organ, the syrinx, to produce sound. https://academy.allaboutbirds.org/built-to-sing-the-syrinx-of-the-northern-cardinal/