turkey buzzard

from The Century Dictionary.

• noun An American vulture of the family Cathartidæ, the Cathartes aura, common and wide-spread through the greater part of North and South America: generally so called in the United States in distinction from the black vulture, or carrion-crow, of that country, Catharista atrata: more fully called red-headed turkey-buzzard.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

• noun a New World vulture that is common in South America and Central America and the southern United States