Classic bird paintings

Turkey Vulture painting: Audubon's plate and other classic portraits

John James Audubon painted the Turkey Vulture as plate 151 of The Birds of America (1827–38), an adult and a young bird, under the name Turkey Buzzard. That plate is the painting shown here; its engraver's line is dated 1832. A free high-resolution scan is on Audubon.org.

Updated

Two Turkey Vultures on a dead branch: an adult with a bare red head above and a dark-headed young bird below
Audubon's plate 151, the Turkey Buzzard: an adult (above) and a young bird. John James Audubon, The Birds of America (1827–38)

Audubon’s plate: plate 151, “Turkey Buzzard”

Audubon showed an adult male in full plumage and a young bird in the autumn of its first year. He wrote that in Florida, when he was out shooting, Turkey Buzzards followed him to see where he put down his game, and ate it if he didn't cover it well.

On Galveston Island, Texas, his party found their nests several times: on the ground in flat salt marsh, under spreading cactus or in tall grass beneath low bushes. Most of what he wrote about the bird's habits is in his chapter on the Black Vulture, plate 106.

Story: Audubon’s Ornithological Biography, vols. 2 (1834) and 5 (1839). See plate 151 free at Audubon.org.

More classic portraits, free to see

  • John James Audubon, The Birds of America, octavo edition (1840–44), plate 2: “Red-headed Turkey Vulture”. Free scan (New York Public Library Digital Collections)

About the Turkey Vulture

The oldest known wild Turkey Vulture lived at least 23 years and 4 months: it was banded in California in 1997 and found there again in 2019. That is a record from bird banding, not a typical lifespan. (Source: USGS Bird Banding Laboratory, 2025 longevity table.) How long do wild birds live?

Buying a print?

An original plate 151 is a hand-colored sheet about 26 by 38 inches, printed in Britain in 1827–38; many prints sold today are reproductions or small 1840s octavo prints. How to tell an original from a reproduction.

In a Birdfolio, the hardcover book of your own life list, this painting sits beside the Turkey Vulture with the date and place you first saw one. See your own list as a book, free.