Showing posts with label gray vulture. Show all posts
Showing posts with label gray vulture. Show all posts

Friday, July 8, 2016

Day Job


Gray Vulture

A faint tapping sound came from upstairs, like the sound of someone knocking on the window. When I went up to investigate, I saw a Black Vulture at the large window in the living room, tapping softly. I was pretty sure I knew what it wanted.

About a week earlier, Don, bless his heart, had hit the wall about the squirrels that were taking over our bird feeder. It's squirrel hunting season here, and Don's a hunter, so I'll let you fill in the blanks. Having eaten his share of squirrels in his youth from necessity, and not from love of the meat, Don opted to donate these to our local clean up crew, the vultures. For a while, every morning, one squirrel was disappearing from the feeder and appearing, belly up, on a tall stump out from the kitchen. The vultures were efficient at disposal.



But now there had been a two day absence of squirrel meat, and the vulture at the window seemed to be asking politely, 
"Did you forget something?"



The next day, and for some time since then, there have been two Black Vultures here regularly. 
They are a lot like pets, in that they expect to be fed. 



Unlike Turkey Vultures, Black Vultures are almost handsome, with their amour-like head gear and white stockings. 



They perch on our deck... 



preen themselves...



drink from the birdbath...



lounge on the stump where the squirrels have appeared...



stretch, and generally make themselves comfortable.



 One of them even tried to take a bite of our door mat.  
It may have been a ploy for sympathy, as in "See how hungry I am?" 



Occasionally, they get demanding, flying up and striking the window with force, but for the most part, they are friendly, and even let us join them on the deck if we stay quietly in our corner.

Of course, with all this activity, squirrels are not coming around as much. The vultures haven't seemed to figure out that their frequent presence is contrary to their interests. So, until they do, we'll enjoy the entertainment. Soon enough, they'll get hungry and find it necessary to return to their regular day jobs--policing this area's highways, county roads, farms and woodlands for opportunities to put on their bibs and get back to work.





Friday, August 10, 2012

Persistance Pays?




A sudden shower had come and gone, 

cooling the heat of the afternoon, when I stopped at the lake to view the sky.

To my delight, a red-tailed hawk soared in and landed on a nearby telephone pole.  

As I watched, it became apparent that not everyone was as pleased to see it as I was. 





 Out of nowhere, 

a mockingbird swooped down at the hawk and passed within inches with claws extended.

  It rested on the telephone wire for a moment before renewing its attack.







The hawk preened itself, studiously ignoring the little dive bomber...





...but the harassment continued. 


Just when it seemed the mockingbird would surely tire of its mission,

a light seemed to dawn in the hawk's brain.





"I could leave!"





And so it did.  The mockingbird was hot on its tail when it disappeared from sight.

Soon, the fearless mockingbird could return to claim the top of the pole as its very own.





Oops!

Nature abhors a vacuum.