A Turkey Vulture was perched on the roof of our home today

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

4. I see those birds all the time in the summer over the Mississippi River.

You can easily tell them from eagles (which are common there too) because they fly with their wings at a positive dihedral angle (slightly upward) while eagles fly with their wings straight out at a flat angle. One of the few times I've seen them away from the river was the day my employer, a large airline, filed for bankruptcy. On that day I saw a couple of vultures circling the parking lot. That was pretty weird and unsettling.