Hi everyone
I stopped by the Wheaton Branch Stormwater Ponds yesterday afternoon and noticed a small flight of Turkey Vultures headed south. There were a couple of Sharp-shinned and Red-tailed Hawks moving with them - and this groovy Turkey Vulture with an obvious pigmentation defect (the first shot shows it with a normal TUVU, the second a closer one of the freak by itself):
http://flic.kr/p/dm9dmX
http://flic.kr/p/dm9hTb
If head color is anything to go by, this is presumably a hatch year bird, a conclusion also supported by the lack of obvious molt limits. I wonder how long birds with this kind of abnormality survive?
A quick Google search turned up a photo of a similar-looking bird on Bill Hubick's site, from Charles County in 2008:
http://www.billhubick.com/photos/birds/turkey_vulture.php
The eBird report can be found here:
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S11832205
Cheers
Stephen
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Stephen J. Davies
Silver Spring, MD
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Flickr:�http://www.flickr.com/photos/chlorophonia/
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