- A common bird in southern Arizona, especially in the spring and summer
- Unique among vultures because they can locate carrion by sight and odor
- Often seen soaring overhead, perched on cliffs, or other tall structures
- In flight, they have a teetering flight style, with a two-toned wing pattern, a fairly long tail, and a trailing edge that shows white feathers
- In the spring and autumn, turkey vultures travel between their breeding and wintering grounds, traveling between zero to more than 3000 miles each season
- Individual migrants return to the same wintering areas in subsequent winters
- A small number of turkey vultures live year-round in southern Arizona, but most of them migrate
