BOTW 8/26 - 8/30
turkey?
Hello everyone!
So imagine this: you are driving along with a friend/family member/significant other and they look up and see a giant bird in the sky. They immediately exclaim: “Wow, look at that giant eagle/hawk/condor!” Being the expert birder you are (after reading so many of these emails) you look up, notice the V-shape of the soaring bird’s wings and gently tell your car-mate: “No, beloved friend/family member/significant other, that’s not any of those…”
This week’s bird is the: Turkey Vulture (the bird featured in the above story)
Not a turkey. Not related. Also not from Turkey 🇹🇷
Has the least attractive head in the animal kingdom... I mean c’mon - birds have evolved to be the most stunning creatures on earth and this species gets a head like this. Tough break.
These crazy creatures can smell like no other. They can smell from a long way off (and from high up). They use that sense to - you guessed it - find stinky + dead food.
These birds do well when there are a lot of animals around (and dying). Populations increased during the bison kill-offs of the 19th century and, more recently, during the explosion of white-tailed deer in the Northeast.
Bet you never thought about this: these birds are natural disinfectants. They kill most of the diseases carried by dead animals during digestion, naturally cleaning the earth. Wow.
A turkey vulture in disguise.
Have a wonderful and bird-filled week!
I love when the congregate in the morning on a dead tree to spread their feathers to the sun.
They are truly beautiful and magnificent creatures. And, it’s true, they are amazing housekeepers. Bought a small lot and eventually built a house in a very rural area in Northern California, in what used to be a fishing hamlet on the coast called Shelter Cove (now I’d say it’s a drinking hamlet). Because it was my first time living in a rural area, I called Humboldt Animal Control to report a dead deer in the middle and the road that had been hit by a car. I remember the man laughing when he said they don’t “travel around” picking up dead carcasses, that nature, namely vultures took care of that. Soon I realized these Turkey Vultures were everywhere doing their best to keep Mother Nature clean. I love watching them pose in the sun for even more than ten minutes their wings outstretched but still bent at the elbow. That’s how they dry themselves I think. In this pose they look like a God. Maybe they are?