Francis Harper's Okefenokee Swamp Turkey Vulture

Okefenokee Photography by William Wise. A nature photo journal exploration of Georgia's Okefenokee Swamp, the Land of Trembling Earth, one of the largest blackwater swamps in North America. The alligators, birds, snakes and wildlife of Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge and Stephen C Foster State Park. -- "What a wildly wonderful world, God! You made it all, with Wisdom at Your side, made earth overflow with your wonderful creations." Psalms 104 The Message

Turkey Vulture buzzard, Cathartes aura, soaring in a blue sky. Birding photography at the Suwannee River Sill Recreation Area Dam in the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge, Georgia, USA.

​One bird always guaranteed to be seen in the Okefenokee Swamp is the Turkey Vulture. In the hot summer months when most birds are hiding in the shade, or in the late fall and winter when other birds have migrated on, the Turkey Vulture is often the only bird seen circling overhead. The eBird frequency chart shows a thick blue line every month through the year, graphically representing its continuous presence, and showing it be more frequently observed than its cousin the Black Vulture.
​
Even in the days of naturalists Albert Wright and Francis Harper (1913), the Turkey Vulture was a common sight. They write in The Auk, “TURKEY VIULTURE; 'Buz- zard.'- Common throughout the swamp. The natives have never found its nest. They told us, however, of several roosts, including one at Mud Valley (south of Billy's Lake) and another in the dead tops of some cy- presses in a small 'head' on Floyd's Island Prairie. It is astonishing how soon the Buzzards appear over a spot where an alligator has been shot, and how quickly they transform its carcass into a bare skeleton.”

Suwannee River Sill; Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge, Georgia.
- Sunny, with a high near 66F.
- Sunrise 6:56 AM; Sunset 5:31 PM
- Daylight hours: 10 hours, 35 minutes (-1m 23s)
- Moon 80% Waxing Gibbous

Wright, Albert and Francis Harper. A Biological Reconnaissance of the Okefinokee Swamp: The Birds. The Auk, Vol. 30, No. 4 (Oct., 1913), pp. 477-505 Published by: Oxford University Press. ​