Turkey Vulture
Cathartes Aura

Vultures have red featherless heads, curved whitish beaks, six foot wingspans, and eat carrion (dead and decaying flesh). You will often see them roosting in groups and during the fall migration, around October, scores will fly overhead in a southerly direction. Kern County has a Turkey Vulture Festival in late September.
Click here for their Turkey Vulture Fact Sheet.

When not searching for food, they spend hours sunning themselves, holding their huge wings out like a vampire's shroud. They roost in the taller oak trees just west of the picnic area or spend a lazy morning sunning themselves while sitting on the big sycamore tree in the middle of the alkali meadow. 

To distinguish them from hawks while flying is not always easy, but here's a few tips.

1. two-toned wings - silver on top, black on the bottom
2. rocks from side to side in flight
3. seldom flaps its wings