This just in from Carrol Henderson:

"Last night I got a call from Bruce Ause, retired director of the Red Wing Environmental Learning Center. He was out hiking on Barnes Bluff south of Red Wing last Thursday, May 17, and observed a dozen turkey vultures resting on the ground. One of them had a pale blue patagial tag on the right wing with the black letters "45." He called me to find out if I knew of anyone who was doing vulture marking studies. I did some "trolling for vultures" on the internet after he called and discovered that 100 migrating turkey vultures had been wing tagged in NW Venezuela with pale blue and with red patagial tags. So the turkey vulture observed by Bruce had wintered somewhere in South America and was passing through Venezuela on its way back to Minnesota.

Radiotelemetry studies have identified South American wintering destinations for Swainson's hawks, ospreys, and broad-winged hawks, so I thought you would like to know that our local turkey vultures are international travelers as well. Have a good day. Carrol"

I always enjoy my Carrol Henderson news updates.

UPDATE from Karla Kinstler:

There are folks in Saskatchewan who are putting herculite fabric wing tags on the right wings of young turkey vultures found in nests in abandoned buildings in Saskatchewan. I think they've done a satellite transmitter or two also. C. Stuart Houston is involved in the project, and he'll be the keynote speaker at the 2008 Festival of Owls (but there he'll be talking about the 7,000+ Great Horned Owls he's banded.)

So there are multiple groups out there putting tags on vultures....