"Hurl " one of the Turkey Vultures hatched from eggs at the Illinois Raptor Center. This chick is exactly 2 weeks old in this picture.
Our attempt to not imprint these chicks has paid off! When I went to get this one it threatened me like you wouldn’t believe. Stretched out wings (nubs in this case), low body posture, and lots of hissing went on when I was trying to document age and size.
All that behavior is awesome! It means the chick does not associate my form or voice with food or another vulture! I think we did it which means a great prognosis for release!
Soon both chicks will be introduced to their foster dads - “Watto and Anikin.”
Turkey vulture babies start out with black faces, and this tricked me the first time we got one in. The black face and smaller size had me thinking someone marked it down incorrectly, as it looked like a Black vulture. After I was taught they start off black, then it was easy to pick out the very different nostrils/beak and less bumpy head to confirm it was indeed a Turkey vulture.
Our cutey, Zsa-Zsa, always likes to sun herself, and I got this nice photo of her the other day.
She’s one of my favorite birds we have! 🥰