We’ve all seen the movie. Our hero, lost in the desert, unscrews the cap from his canteen and pours his last drop of water into his parched mouth. He stumbles on under a relentless sun. Ominous shadows on the ground prompt him to look skyward. Circling overhead are one, then two, then three vultures. We always see this story from the perspective of the explorer. But what about those vultures? Are they really as scary as they seem in the movies? Thankfully, we don’t have to get lost in the desert to get the answer. This Saturday, Sept. 29, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., the Audubon Kern River Preserve will hold its annual Turkey Vulture Festival. If you’re not from the area, it’s a bit of a haul to get there – but well worth it.

But first, a little bit more about how awesome Turkey Vultures are:

Now let’s get something out of the way right off the bat. Yes, the Turkey Vulture is a scavenger that eats carrion, which is a fancy word for dead things. Rather than hold that against them, you should probably thank them. That is, unless you have another idea for how we should clean up all those ground squirrels, opossums, raccoons, and other unfortunate creatures that meet their end one way or another in the wild.

With that bit of ugliness out of the way, we can focus on other wondrous aspects of the Turkey Vulture. Let’s start with its sense of smell, which is truly amazing. Turkey Vultures can smell food from miles away, and even locate things that are buried under leaves and other covering. Their sense of smell is so good that Turkey Vultures have been used to located natural gas leaks. It turns out that the chemical that gas companies add to natural gas so that people can smell it is the same one emitted by putrefying animal carcasses. It didn’t take long for the gas company workers to realize that Turkey Vultures were finding those hard-to-find leaks in their natural gas pipelines even before they did.

Right now is the peak of Turkey Vulture migration. As they fly south each evening, they look for a place to roost for the night like the forest on the Kern River Preserve. The number of vultures varies from day to day depending upon weather and other factors. If we are fortunate, the Preserve will see large kettles of vultures rising on morning thermals.  In any case, this is a great time of year to get out and enjoy the Kern River Preserve.

Joining us at the festival will be the U.S. Forest Service, Facility for Animal Care and Treatment (FACT), Friends of the Condor, Wild & Free and Kerncrest Audubon – who will all set up booths at the festival. The Preserve is located at 18747 Hwy 178 in Weldon. For directions and general information on Audubon’s Kern River Preserve please visit our webpage. For more information email swieser@audubon.org or call (760) 378-2262.

Most of us know Turkey Vultures from seeing them in the air. With a wingspan approaching six feet, they’re hard to miss. Moreover, their black wings with white trailing feathers are very distinctive. If you get close enough to see its head, you will notice that it has no feathers. That’s because it tends to stick its face in a lot of unpleasant places, and feathers would get quite dirty.

The Turkey Vulture is a classic soaring bird, relying on rising currents of air, or thermals. Its wide wings and long feathers are perfectly built for gaining lift this way, and if you watch one closely, you will notice that several minutes might go by before it flaps its wings.

Turkey Vultures can be seen in the Marin area year-round. Although they are a migratory bird, moving north and south over the year, there are some birds that have taken up permanent residency here. They even breed in limited numbers in this area, as well.

Another interesting fact about Turkey Vultures is that they often spread their wings out wide in the sun when perched in a tree. This is their way of taking a bath. Because their lifestyle precludes them from preening with their beak like other birds, they instead rely on the sun’s ultraviolet rays to kill of bacteria from their feathers. The heat of the sun also helps get their feathers back into place.

Events on Saturday actually begin with a 7 a.m. early morning birding walk from the Preserve headquarters. Many bird species can be found during the fall migration.  Among them are Turkey vultures may be found on the preserve waiting for the temperature to warm enough to create thermals to help them lift off.  Seeing vultures in trees with their wings spread out to  warm up is quite spectacular.

We'll do another bird walk starting at 8:30 a.m. for those who just can't get it together for the 7 a.m. On this walk we will visit the river forest and hope to see vultures liftoff.  There will be vulture spotters to locate roosts and escort people to see vultures liftoff. There are many other birds and things to see on our way and liftoff usually occurs around 9 to 10 a.m.

And then at 9 a.m., we'll start staffing the information booth, and there will be all kinds of folks around to welcome you.  Stop in and buy a t-shirt or learn how to become a supporter of the Kern River Preserve.  We have Turkey Vulture T-shirts with beautiful art work by local artist John Schmitt in all sizes.