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THE WILSON JOURNAL OF ORNITHOLOGY • Vol. 123. No. 3. September 2011 
FIG. 1. Telemetry locations and annual breeding home 
ranges (95% fixed-kernel) of six Turkey Vultures (satellite 
identification number indicated) in central Saskatchewan, 
Canada, 2005-2009. Nest sites (abandoned buildings) are 
indicated as dotted squares. Vultures # 57953 and # 65544 
shared the same site in different years; vultures # 85753 and 
# 85754 were a mated pair. 
(Houston et al. 2007). Vultures were soon 
breeding widely in deserted buildings on farms 
throughout the Aspen Parkland and southern 
Boreal Forest ecoregions (Houston and Terry 
2003). For example, vultures first nested in the 
11,012 km 2 Saskatoon Bird Area in 2002 
(Houston et al. 2002) and most farmers in 
Saskatchewan have reported vultures only during 
the past decade. 
These increases in vulture nesting activity may 
also be in response to gradual increases in 
availability of ungulate carrion, related to docu¬ 
mented province- and Canada-wide increases ir 
wildlife-vehicle collisions (especially with deer 
on highways (Tardif and Associates 2003). The 
number of reported collisions with wildlife ir 
Saskatchewan from 1988 to 2009 increased from 
3,695 to 13,052 with a particularly marked rise in 
the past decade (Traffic Information System. 
Saskatchewan Government Insurance. Regina. 
Canada). Short-term increases in carrion supply 
are also coincident with management actions 
enacted tn 2002, to control Bovine Spongioform 
Encephalopathy (BSE); these actions closed 
Time Female Male 
25 May 
26 May 
27 May 
28 May 
29 May 
30 May 
2100 _ 
000 
• 11 
1 ■> 
1 " 
1500 ‘ f'i.C :;! 
1800 
FIG. 2. Attentiveness of male # 85753 and female 
# 85754 during early incubation, 23-30 May 2009. Black = 
present at nest site. 
