I watched the flock of about 40 birds as they caught a thermal and spiraled upwards, coasted south towards the horse farm, then turned and rode the waves of southerly winds towards me, bouncing, teetering and coasting as if riding a giant water slide. Ungainly on land, vultures excel in the air. By soaring with their wingtip feathers spread wide like the fingers on a hand, vultures counteract the large amount of drag produced by their wide wings, reducing wingtip turbulence and lowering their stalling speed. When soaring slowly, vultures actually glide downward to maintain forward thrust, but they stay aloft because the rising warm air propels them upwards faster than they sink. Vultures also save energy by cooperating, searching in groups, and descending en masse when one spies a carcass.
Vultures often get bad press for their diet.
Vultures are well-designed for sanitarians. Sophisticated immune systems protect them from disease-causing organisms, and their unfeathered heads are easily cleaned of rotten meat and potential pests. The odor-processing area of a vulture's brain is much larger than in other birds of comparable size, suggesting that the stench of carcasses helps them locate their food from long distances. When we lived in Mesilla Park, we saw this flock of turkey vultures frequently. Communal birds, turkey vultures roost and nest together.