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Turkey vultures spend some time atop a chimney, looking downon the turkeys in Dongan HillsPublished: Thursday, March 31, 2011, 11:49 AMVirginia N. SherryBySTATEN ISLAND, N.Y. - DONGAN HILLS -When Delaware Avenue resident MicheleFichera heard her 4-year-old Rottweiler,Nica, emitting a "weird whimper" on theafternoon of Feb. 28, she went toinvestigate, and spotted a pair of largebirds perched on the roof of a neighbor'shouse on Alter Avenue."I looked out and couldn't believe myeyes. At first I thought they were twoturkeys. I grabbed my zoom lens, andthey were vultures!"I have been living on Staten Island forover 35 years, and have yet to see anyvultures here – just turkeys and hawks," she said.Dongan Hills resident Michelle Fichera photographed these turkeyvultures on a neighbor's rooftop on Alter Avenue. Her 4-year-old, 100-pound Rottweiler called them to her attention when "he did this weirdwhimper that I never heard before," she said. (Photo Courtesy ofMichelle Fichera)Positive identification of the birds as turkey vultures (Cathartes aura) came from Edward W. Johnson,director of science at the Staten Island Museum."You can tell by the naked red head of the adult birds," he wrote, after reviewing photographs of the pair."Black vultures (and immature turkey vultures) have a naked gray-black head."Of the two, turkey vulture is by far the more common species on Staten Island. I saw a dozen of themsoaring around the expressway near the College of Staten Island on Tuesday morning (March 23)," headded.According to Johnson, the birds " have never been known to nest on Staten Island. (By nesting, he meansbuilding a nest, laying eggs and successfully hatching out and raising young).Page 156 of 179