Saskatchewan vultures attract diligent birdwatching fan base

A turkey vulture hatchling and its sibling are being monitored as they grow on a farm north of Saskatoon.

Photograph by: Submitted , The StarPhoenix

By Bob Florence, The StarPhoenix.  Deanna and Alex Kiepen have four guests on their farm near Langham this summer: Big, bald, meat-eating vultures. "I wouldn't believe they'd be here," Alex said. "I thought they were a hot-country bird, the ones you see in movies from Africa and old Westerns." Two of the turkey vultures at Kiepen's hay farm are adults. The other two were born last month. They are dusted with white down as fluffy as candy floss. The two hatchlings live on their own on Kiepens' farm while the adults roost in trees near the North Saskatchewan River. During the day the adult vultures ride the thermals. Instead of flapping their wings that are almost as wide as a Mazda sedan, they soar in warm columns of air. They look for dead animals. They can smell them. Around 10 a.m. every day, one of the adults arrives at the nesting site to feed the young. The young put their beak deep into the adult's gullet for a piece of skunk or deer or whatever else is found in the field. They eat fast. In a couple of minutes the parent leaves. The other adult delivers supper around 5 p.m. If it is cool or windy, with the thermals flat and weak, the adult vultures might not see their nestlings all day. Dr. Stuart Houston of Saskatoon calls this absentia parenting. This is the way vultures do things, he said...Continue reading...