Far from the desert, a small but growing turkey vulture population exists in Alberta.
Recently spotted by a local hiker at Big Hill Springs Provincial Park, two of turkey vultures were perched on posts by Daniel Foster.
“This is my first time in my life seeing (turkey vultures) here in Cochrane,” Foster said in an email.
While historically rare in east-central Alberta, 28 nests were documented in 2012 and 190 young vultures have been wing-tagged in the area in the past five years, according to the Alberta Fish & Wildlife website.
The species has been migrating to Alberta as early as 1996, when first mentioned in a “Status of Alberta Wildlife” report.
The background notes in the two-decade-old report stated, “Known breeding areas were very localized focused in the central Red Deer River valley, with some breeding north to Cold Lake.”
The updated information says the vultures are active in Alberta from May to September and can typically be found in open country or shorelines.
And while the bird might be a tempting trophy to some, the turkey vulture is classified as a “Secure” species in the 2010 General Status of Alberta Wild Species Report, protected by the provincial Wildlife Act and classified as a non-game species.
For more information on the different type of species you might not know are living in your backyard, go to aep.alberta.ca.
