A remote camera installed on a privately owned ranch in Armstrong County, Texas, has captured what scientists believe to be the first-ever visual evidence of a coyote preying on turkey vultures.
Images taken by the camera show a coyote passing over a steep escarpment and entering a cut – the site of a vulture nest. Moments later, the canid can be seen emerging with a nestling in its mouth, before trotting upslope and out of view.
Six minutes later, the coyote enters the cut again, then exits it by a different route with something in its mouth. Although the object being carried is not clearly visible, the coyote's shadow suggests it was likely holding another nestling.
“Canids have been suggested as predators of nestling turkey vultures based on indirect evidence, including tracks or scat at nest sites or in proximity to dens,” say researchers James D. Ray and Susan K. Ray, who published their findings in the Journal of Raptor Research. “However, to our knowledge, no published accounts have provided direct visual evidence of coyote predation on turkey vultures.”
The authors believe the location of the nest on the floor of the cut likely made the nestlings – as well as the eggs and potentially incubating or brooding adults – vulnerable to attack by the coyote and other terrestrial predators.
Scientific records of predation and attempted predation on turkey vultures are rare, although there are some, say the authors. A 1991 paper (Northwestern Naturalist) described a golden eagle knocking an adult turkey vulture from the sky and pinning it to the ground, before subsequently releasing it. A 2021 paper (Journal of Raptor Research), meanwhile, describes an event where a Central American boa constrictor kills and consumes an adult turkey vulture in Belize.
Predation events by American alligators, Javan mongooses, Virginia opossums and raccoons have also been suggested, but these reports remain speculative.
“Among canids, domestic dogs and foxes have been proposed as predators of nestling turkey vultures based on indirect evidence such as tracks, scat, or den proximity,” say the authors. “Our observations provide the first direct, visual documentation of coyote predation on nestling turkey vultures, expanding the list of confirmed predators for this species and contributing new insights into turkey vulture nest vulnerability.”
Top image credit: James D. Ray and Susan K. Ray, Journal of Raptor Research 2026
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