They certainly do know how to set the mood.
Rodeo grounds are generally a fun place for many. Sure, periodically people and animals get hurt there, but for the most part they really don't creep people out. However, when they are empty except for a handful of vultures... they sure look a bit different, and creepier. Check out these photos.
VULTURE PHOTOS
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Until next time…
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####I see him as lots of things - prepared, watchful, hungry, vigilant, dedicated - but no where near creepy. Those weird people frightening animals for show and trying to "break" them? Now THAT whole concept creeps me out!
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Okay, perhaps I'm a bit strange, but I've always loved vultures. Did you know that they are actually highly gregarious and social?
Part of it, undoubtedly, is that we had a caracara come live with us when I was a kid, in the L.A. area. It was early 1969, still winter, and a flood year, so it was raining pretty much constantly. And the caracara, being an intelligent sort, figured out pretty quickly that our dog, Bruno, loved birds of all kinds, and would allow them to eat out of his food bowl. Seriously. All the time.
My grandmother earned my dad's wrath one day, while visiting, when she methodically fed the caracara with bits and pieces of the steak that had been intended for his dinner that night. Oops. She and the caracara were happy, anyway.
She and my mom also told me about a guy in New Mexico, who hated vultures, and would purposefully run them over whenever he saw them feeding on road kill. According to their tale, once, having run over several birds, he turned around to hit more of them, only to have one of the vultures dive bomb his windshield, decapitating him for his efforts. I always considered it to be poetic justice, as, apparently, did many of the people who lived in the area at the time.
The caracara stayed with us until early that summer, when he flew off, but he returned the following winter with a mate, which thrilled my mom and I. Unfortunately, the hill below ours was then being developed, and new houses were being built, so they didn't stay for long.
One funny thing, though, is that my mom had a snake cactus among her collection of succulents, and the caracara tried to "kill" it, before realizing that it wasn't actually a snake. My mom kept that cactus for decades, and it still showed marks from the caracara's beak, which always tickled her.
If you're not familiar with caracaras, picture the Mexican flag, and the caracara is the bird with the snake in its talon. And they don't have featherless heads, as do most vultures, but have seriously gorgeous markings, and are magnificent birds, whether up close or at a distance.
Years later, in Florida, I discovered that there was a resident population in Yeehaw Junction - yes, that's a real place - and I used to enjoy it every time we drove through the area, as we nearly always spotted caracaras along the grassy edges of the highway, or near the borders of the woods.
Then again, it was also in Florida where I fell seriously in love with the turkey and black vultures, which roosted near our home, and were so incredibly graceful in their flight patterns.
I discovered a bald eagle's nest about a block from our home in 1997, and used to photograph the eagles, and our resident ospreys (which had multiple nests in the immediate area) on a regular basis. And, while teaching myself to recognize them each by sight, simply from their silhouettes, I came to really appreciate the vultures, every bit as much as I did the eagles and ospreys.
They have a magnificence all their own.
Then again, remembering Peanuts as a kid, I adored the strips where Snoopy pretended to be a vulture. They were absolutely hilarious. Fun stuff. ;-)
Upon moving to Tennessee in 2011, we quickly discovered that we have a large flock of turkey vultures that roost directly across the street, with occasional black vultures intermingling, which I love watching as they are circling overhead in the late afternoons, getting ready to roost.
My cat Bear wasn't thrilled at first, and stuck close to the covered front porch, until he realized that they weren't a threat to a healthy cat. We had lots of vultures (and eagles and ospreys) in Florida, as well, but our yard had a lot more tree cover near the house, so he likely didn't feel so exposed.
In any case, I find vultures calming, rather than creepy. ;-)
Town of Spearfish, SD in the northern Black Hills has a huge resident flock of turkey vultures that nest in the city park each year. Looks strange to see them soaring overhead during the summer months.
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