Cathartiformes (New World Vultures)

Cathartiformes—the New World vultures—represents a small but distinctive order of scavenging birds. In Minnesota, this order is represented primarily by the Turkey Vulture, a large soaring bird often seen circling over open country, roadsides, fields, river valleys, and woodland edges.

Despite their association with raptors, New World vultures are best recognized by their specialized scavenging ecology, long-winged soaring flight, bare heads, and strong ability to locate carrion across broad landscapes.

In the field, these birds are often recognized less by fine plumage detail and more by silhouette, wing posture, rocking flight, circling behavior, and habitat context.

Orientation

These notes are organized by family, emphasizing comparison, behavior, and field recognition rather than a complete species list.

General Characteristics

Structure: Large-bodied birds with long wings, relatively small bare heads, hooked bills, and strong soaring adaptations
Flight: Slow, efficient soaring; wings often held in a shallow V, with noticeable rocking or teetering in the air
Voice: Generally quiet in open field conditions; vocalizations are limited and usually heard only at close range
Behavior: Scavenging specialists that search widely for carrion, often by circling over open landscapes

Members of this order occupy open country, woodland edges, river corridors, agricultural areas, roadsides, and other habitats where carrion may be available.

Field Recognition

Birds in this order are often identified by a combination of:

Movement: Slow circling, low searching flight, or high soaring over broad areas
Flight style: Long wings held in a shallow dihedral, with a rocking or teetering motion rather than steady flapping
Posture: Hunched, awkward-looking stance when perched; small bare head and long folded wings visible at rest
Voice: Usually silent when observed at a distance
Habitat context: Open skies, roadsides, fields, farms, river valleys, woodland edges, and areas near carrion

In many cases, flight style and silhouette are more useful than color, especially when the bird is distant or backlit.

Families

Cathartidae

New World vultures; large scavenging birds with bare heads, hooked bills, long wings, and highly efficient soaring flight.

Notes

Visibility: Turkey Vultures are often seen in flight before they are seen perched; soaring silhouettes are usually the first clue.
Identification strategy: Look for long wings held in a shallow V, a rocking glide, dark body, and paler flight feathers from below.
Minnesota context: Turkey Vulture is the expected representative in most Minnesota observations, especially during the warmer months.
Photographic note: Perched views can be especially useful because they show the bare red head, pale bill, hunched posture, and layered dark plumage that may be missed in distant flight views.

References

Cornell Lab of Ornithology – All About Birds
https://www.allaboutbirds.org
eBird
https://ebird.org
Birds of the World
https://birdsoftheworld.org