“V” is for Vulture – Zoom lecture May 13, 2021

The Santa Ynez Valley Natural History Society will present a free online lecture with Dennis and Jess Beebe on Thursday, May 13, 7:00 – 8:30 p.m.

This Zoom webinar includes a live presentation followed by a Q & A.

A Zoom link will be posted online on the SYVNHS website – www.syvnature.org  prior to the program. A recording of the presentation will be posted online after the event.

We see them circling overhead almost every day; sometimes we mistake them for hawks. In our area, these large black, bald-headed birds are usually Turkey Vultures (Cathartes aura), a member of nature’s efficient clean-up crew. They are scavengers and they have been patrolling the skies for millennia. A total of 23 species make up the vultures found in the New World (the Americas) and the Old World (Europe, Asia and Africa.). Turkey Vultures are local representatives of the New World vultures, which in North America also include the California Condor and Black Vulture.  Although Turkey Vultures are commonly seen, they

are little studied and much of their behavior remains unknown.  This lecture will address what is known, including their evolution, ecology, and how these birds are treated worldwide, from reverence to revulsion.

Dennis and Jess Beebe, father and daughter, return to the Zoom “stage” of the Santa Ynez Valley Natural History Society. Their popular corvid lecture, “Birds in Black… and Blue,” was presented to Society audiences in 2020.  Dennis is an amateur naturalist, a member of the Board of Directors of the SYVNHS, and a volunteer docent with the non-profit NatureTrack and the Sedgwick Reserve.  Jess also volunteers for NatureTrack, and her passion for birding has led her to birding sites throughout the Western U.S. and many foreign countries.