Breeding and Nesting

Breeding and Nesting

In Canada, Turkey Vultures begin nesting in May or June. Some adults do a "courting dance" on the ground before breeding. In Ontario they like to live on cliffs, and they lay their eggs in small caves or under ledges in the rock. They don't build fancy nests, although they sometimes pile up dead leaves or rotten wood around the eggs. They only lay two eggs which are creamy white with brown blotches, and about the size of an extra-large chicken egg. Both parents share the incubation duties - sitting on the eggs to keep them at body temperature, and turning them regularly. After 38 to 41 days, the eggs hatch. The chicks' eyes open on the first day, and they are quite alert and active. They call to their parents with loud, hoarse squawks, and flap their tiny wings as they stumble around. They are covered with long, white down, like the soft, almost-weightless feathers used in pillows and duvets. The chicks' heads are almost bare, with just a little of this white fluff. The parents feed them by regurgitating (coughing up) food into their open mouths. As the young birds grow, this becomes quite a wrestling match. MORE! [LH] {BI} {BE}