Turkey vultures are among the homelist of avian species; I suppose the California Condor is uglier but I have never seen a California Condor in the wild (or anywhere for that matter.) I took this photograph of a turkey vulture on one of our daily outings in Costa Rica this past January. At the time, I had photographs of many more appealing birds to post here but was reminded of this shot because I’ve been seeing lots of turkey vultures around here lately.
Turkey vultures have made a home in the barn on my friend’s farm. They are definitely not attractive birds. The first time I saw them they horrified me.