Adobe Mountain Wildlife Rehabilitation Center volunteer Jake Breedlove shows off a buzzard. Paul Wolterbeek photo.

What Bye-Bye Buzzards When: Saturday, Sept. 13 Where Boyce Thompson Arboretum Superior, Ariz. Cost/Admission: $6 adults, $3 ages 5-12. Contact Information: Media: Paul Wolterbeek (520) 689-5248 pwolterb@ag.arizona.edu Recorded public message: (520) 689-2811 Related Web sites: Boyce Thompson Arboretum Arizona State Parks College of Agriculture and Life Sciences

They feed on carrion and vomit when they feel threatened. Questionable deportment aside, turkey vultures are a gentle, charismatic and misunderstood species well worthy of celebration. Visitors are urged to come see these birds and learn about their unique adaptations at the annual Bye-Bye Buzzards day at Boyce Thompson Arboretum on Saturday, Sept. 13.

Cooperatively managed with the University of Arizona College of Agriculture and Life Sciences and Arizona State Parks, the arboretum is a 320-acre collection of desert plants traversed by more than two miles of trails.

Sure, San Juan Capistrano may boast the seasonal migration of swallows - but the Boyce Thompson Arboretum asserts its own bragging rights each year as the vultures, Cathartes aura, glide in on wings that span six feet for their six-month stay in Arizona after a winter spent south in Mexico.

Turkey vultures summer throughout Arizona from mid-March through autumn, and the arboretum's resident flock can swell to more than 100 birds before they depart in September.

On Sept. 13 the Arboretum opens early - at 7 a.m. - so early bird watchers may view the vultures roosting in the towering eucalyptus trees and sunning themselves on the rocky cliffs of Magma Ridge. As thermal air currents begin to rise, the birds take wing and glide on the upwells of air - performing an impressive aerial ballet as they depart in search of carrion.

After an early morning vulture count, an ornithologist will lead visitors on a birdwatching tour along the trails. "Carrion Cake" and prickly pear iced tea will follow later that morning at the visitor center.

Bye-Bye Buzzards day also provides a rare opportunity to see a turkey vulture up close and personal, with Ed the Education Turkey Vulture from the Adobe Mountain Wildlife Center. Unlike most vultures, Ed is habituated to humans, living the comparatively easy life at the rehab center. There, Ed seldom needs resort to feral vulture behavior such as vomiting at aggressors or urinating down its legs and feet as a way to dissipate body temperature.

While behavior like that won't win you many friends, for turkey vultures it has another purpose. The strong acid in vulture excreta also inhibits the growth of bacteria on the birds' legs, an important evolutionary defense for a life spent in decaying flesh.

Other rehab center residents likely to visit Boyce Thompson Arboretum should include other Arizona birds of prey, woodpeckers, small mammals and reptiles. Wildlife rehab experts and their animals and educational displays can be viewed at the visitor center until 3 p.m. Experts will be on hand to explain how they rescue and aid injured wildlife for release back to their habitats.

Boyce Thompson Arboretum is located three miles west of the town of Superior, a drive of about 90 minute north of Tucson via highways 79 and 60. Hours are 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily, admission is $6 adult, $3 for ages 5-12.