Turkey Vulture

The turkey vulture is a large, sleek black bird with a naked red head, white beak, long tail and six-foot wing span. Juveniles have grey head, not red.
Its ratio of body weight to wing area makes it a near perfect sailplane. The turkey vulture uses thermals to carry it aloft, where it soars high above the ground, sweeping in wide circles within the bounds of the rising columns of warm ascending air. It soars with wings held in shallow V.
Its slender wings appear two-toned from below, the steel-gray flight feathers contrasting with black wing linings.