A vulture culture began to roost on campus and around the state with the advent of a new program started by the University of Wyoming Museum of Vertebrates and UW Biodiversity Institute last year.

UW’s Biodiversity Institute again invites community members from across the state to share their observations of these fascinating and often misunderstood birds through Vulture Watch Wyoming. A training session will be held Saturday, April 5, from 10 a.m.-noon in person in the Berry Biodiversity Conservation Center Teaching Lab (Room 217) and will be livestreamed on Zoom at https://uwyo.zoom.us/meeting/register/C4GEITpsSZmZiD-XCDSVZA.

“The protocol has not changed from last year, so previous participants do not need to attend. They can start observing turkey vultures and submitting data as soon as they see them return to Wyoming,” says Mason Lee, senior project coordinator for the Biodiversity Institute. “We are once again taking observations of turkey vultures from around Wyoming and from the Old Main campus roost.”

Volunteers will use a mobile survey app with specific questions, including where turkey vultures select their roosts. Volunteers also will help identify which species of trees the birds use; what types of behavior they perform at their roosts; and record information on locale, time, and weather condition.

In early to mid-April, turkey vultures arrive in Laramie after migrating from wintering grounds in Central America and South America. The birds may use a communal roost — for example, they occupy a series of trees on the southwest corner of UW’s campus — which they use until migrating back to their winter grounds in September and October. Communal roosts are important gathering places for the birds, providing them a safe place to sleep; allowing them to take care of their daily tasks, such as stretching and cleaning; and possibly sharing information about the location of resources, says Elizabeth Wommack, curator and collections manager of vertebrates for the UW Museum of Vertebrates.

“We learned about the existence of urban and rural roosts around the state; confirmed there is breeding occurring in Wyoming; and collected data about turkey vulture basics in Wyoming,” Wommack says about the first year of Vulture Watch Wyoming. “We can now ask deeper questions, such as how consistent turkey vulture roost sizes are in different seasons, and we can narrow down potential nest sites and their habitats.”

During 2024, 41 community scientists uploaded 532 turkey vulture observations between April and November, according to a 2024 community report about Vulture Watch Wyoming. During this period, program members collected data on roosts, flight patterns and kettles, juveniles and potential nests, and several interesting behaviors.

According to the report, a kettle is when a group of vultures spirals upward to gain altitude and catches thermal updrifts.

“Gathering data on where turkey vultures form kettles helps us to understand how vultures are using the landscape to move around Wyoming,” Wommack says.

Roosts, such as in trees near Old Main and on the building’s roof, provide important information about how turkey vultures use habitats and congregate in Wyoming, according to the report. Conifers — spruces, in particular — were the most used tree species for a roost, followed by cottonwood trees, the report says. Russian olives are another tree species used for roosts.

“A turkey vulture roost has been present each year outside of Old Main on the University of Wyoming campus for many years,” Wommack says. “As part of Vulture Watch Wyoming, we wanted to know how this roost grows and expands each season while in use. Vulture Watch Wyoming community scientists helped track how many birds were seen at this roost in 2024, as well as which trees they used to form the roost.”

Turkey vultures are considered scavengers. The main part of turkey vultures’ diets is cleaning up dead animals across the landscape. These birds have a keen sense of smell and can track carcasses by sight and smell. They also have an amazing gut and digestive system, which has been proven to remove from the environment diseases, such as anthrax and botulism, that can be found in carrion.

While turkey vultures play a vital role in the ecosystem of Wyoming, understanding of a good deal of their basic biology and behavior in the state is scarce. Because they are a wide-ranging species that may travel hundreds of miles per day, collecting data on them throughout the state becomes a huge task, Wommack says.

For a look at Community Report: Vulture Watch Wyoming 2024, go to https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/337dd93fc82d47f282cad87e76ab18cb.

For more information about Vulture Watch Wyoming, go to www.wyomingbiodiversity.org/index.php/community-science/vulture-watch-wyoming or email ewommack@uwyo.edu.

About the University of Wyoming Biodiversity Institute

The UW Biodiversity Institute fosters conservation of biodiversity through scientific discovery, creative dissemination, education, and public engagement. In this setting, scientists, citizens, students, and educators come together to share a wealth of perspectives on the study and appreciation of biodiversity — from microbes to poetry and ecosystems to economics. For more information, go to www.wyomingbiodiversity.org.

About the University of Wyoming Museum of Vertebrates

The UW Museum of Vertebrates is a rapidly expanding repository of historic and modern bird, mammal, amphibian, reptile, and fish specimens. The museum’s mission is to document and understand regional and global biodiversity through acquisition and investigation of collections to advance academic knowledge and public appreciation of the natural world. For more information, go to www.uwymv.wyomingbiodiversity.org/index.php.