Turkey Vulture Photos

Photography by Terry Sohl

My Favorite: Turkey Vultures are a pretty common sight around the Sioux Falls area and southeastern South Dakota in the summer months. I should also say IN Sioux Falls itself, as some of their favorite roosting sites include places such as a giant TV tower that's right in downtown Sioux Falls. My favorite photo below though is from a bird in flight taken while traveling a number of years ago. I've only been to Squaw Creek National Wildlife Refuge a couple of times in my life, but have really enjoyed it there. It was very "birdy" both in migration (when waterfowl numbers were astronomical), and during a summer visit. This soaring Turkey Vulture was taken there in September, 2004.

Turkey Vulture - Cathartes aura


Turkey Vulture 1	Turkey Vulture 2	Turkey Vulture 3	Turkey Vulture 4
September 17th, 2004	September 17th, 2004	September 30th, 2004	May 17th, 2005
Squaw Creek National Wildlife Refuge, MO	Squaw Creek National Wildlife Refuge, MO	Newton Hills State Park, South Dakota	Minnehaha County, South Dakota
Vulture in flight on a sunny, blue sky day	Bird perched on dead branch	Vulture perched amidst fall foliage	Turkey Vulture in flight

Turkey Vulture 5	Turkey Vulture 6	Turkey Vulture 7	Turkey Vulture 8
April 19th, 2007	April 19th, 2007	April 19th, 2007	April 19th, 2007
Point Reyes National Seashore, California	Point Reyes National Seashore, California	Point Reyes National Seashore, California	Point Reyes National Seashore, California
Vulture on the beach on a foggy morning	Detailed closeup of head and shoulders	Vulture spreading it's wings on a fence post	Over-the-shoulder closeup of a Turkey Vulture

Turkey Vulture 9	Turkey Vulture 10	Turkey Vulture 11	Turkey Vulture 12
July 5th, 2010	May 19th, 2016	May 19th, 2016	May 23rd, 2020
LaCreek National Wildlife Refuge, South Dakota	Lincoln County, South Dakota	Lincoln County, South Dakota	Minnehaha County, South Dakota
Turkey Vulture on a wooden fence post	Turkey Vulture on a wooden fence post	Turkey Vulture on a wooden fence post	Turkey Vulture on a wooden fence post

Turkey Vulture 13
May 23rd, 2020
Minnehaha County, South Dakota
Vulture spreading wings and about to take flight