[Mikey]

On Sunday May 9th at about 12;30pm, we stopped at a creek ravine on the Pratt Lake trail at about the 1,000 ft elevation gain from the Granite Mtn-Pratt Lake trail parking lot for some lunch. Soon after we started eating freshly cooked salmon sandwiches, we saw a black buzzard (turkey vulture) glide overhead. It circled above and below doing tight circles in the narrow creek ravine and eventually descended down the ravine southerly towards I-90 (apparently the wind from the south up the creek ravine provided sufficient lift for the bird to soar without flapping its wings). In about 5 minutes another buzzard (or the same bird) repeated this circling above and below coming to within maybe 30 ft of us. Unfortunately, I did not have my camera. We wondered; "Did that buzzard smell our salmon sandwich ?". Looking on the internet it states: "The Turkey Vulture is a scavenger and feeds almost exclusively on carrion. It finds its meals using its keen vision and sense of smell, flying low enough to detect the gasses produced by the beginnings of the process of decay in dead animals. Buzzards locate carrion both by sight and smell. (Unlike most other birds, buzzards have a well-developed sense of smell.) The Turkey Vulture’s highly developed olfactory sense enable individuals to locate concealed carcasses. They can fly low to the ground to pick up the scent of dead animals."

[RichP]

I grew up in the South and buzzards were a common sight. Just about anywhere you go, they are around. We would often think that they were following us around too. Roadkill never lasts long in that part of the world. I've always thought that the absence of them in these parts was rather odd. In fact, I can't ever remember seeing one in western Wa. I miss them almost as much as the whippoorwill and the sound they make. http://www.soundboard.com/sb/Whippoorwill_sounds.aspx

[Quark]

I've been told that turkey vultures migrate through here each year. I don't know where the hell they come from or where they're going. I just found out about the migration a few weeks ago, when my freind Jonathan saw some wierdo looking birds circling around Pioneer Square. He had his camera with him, and snapped some photos. He works with biologists, and showed the pics to one with bird knowledge, who ID'd them as turkey vultures. I spent 20 years in Texas, and saw these things all over the place; on picnic tables in campgrounds, and picking on carcasses. They're terrible looking birds, but then again, they probably think we're terrible looking as well.

[Malachai Constant]

I know they nest down around Monterey CA the turons thought they were California Condors.

[RichP]

I guess it's time for this:

[reststep]

I have seen them a couple of times. Once they seemed to be feeding on something along road between highway 104 and Quilcene. The other time was at Upper Ice Lake in the Entiat area. Later we found a mountain goat carcass and they may have been eating off of it.

[kbatku]

Turkey buzzards moved back in to Eastern Washington about 15-20 years ago. I've seen literally dozens feeding on a dead cow out on the Rez (ervation) and see them circling over other questionable stuff all the time. I wonder if the explosion of crow/raven populations has cut in to their food supply, and hence their overall numbers?

[Bernardo]

I saw three Turkey Vultures circling their way up the Middle Fork Snoqualmie as I was eating my lunch in the meadow near its confluence with the Pratt River on Saturday. I'd never seen them before in western Washington. While we work hard to walk a few miles, they can cover huge swathes of terrain almost effortlessly!

[Movenhike]

I saw one soaring the afternoon thermals on Poet Ridge between Longfellow and Whittier a couple summers ago.

[MadCapLaughs]

I see them here in E. WA and North ID fairly regularly. FWIW, a turkey vulture and a black vulture are two different birds; the OP seemed to be conflating them. I see turkey vultures, not black vultures.

[Schroder]

There are several of them around Snohomish. One hangs out on Hiway 2 between Snohomish and Monroe and picks at everything dead on the road. I also regularly see several around Oyster Dome.

[Redwic]

During the many years I lived in Gold Bar, we would always see turkey vultures at least a few times every year. They are fun to watch, as we often wondered what meal of choice they were circling.

[Quark]

When I was a teenager, newly arrived in Texas, I slathered Coppertone on myself and went out to lay in the sun to get a tan. My mom rushed outside and told me to move around more often. I asked why, and she pointed up, to several buzzards circling the sky above me. To this day I"m not 100% sure they were circling because of me, but then again, I'm not 100% sure they weren't circling because of me.

[GeoHiker]

I worked a fire lookout in SW OR several years ago and the turkey vultures would circle the lookout all day working the thermals. Poor Rocky would be outside on the deck snoozing and every so often one would do a low flyby at about 5 ft. off the deck freaking Rocky out. All I have to say is "big black bird" and it sends Rocky into a barking frenzy. He hated those birds!..... They are incredibly graceful and cool to watch. I see them in E.WA quite often and saw one the other day near Lake Roesiger.

[mike]