Subject: [Tweeters] A Yard Bird to Die For
Date: Jun 11 09:50:10 2012
From: jeff gibson - gibsondesign at msn.com



Spotting a Turkey Vulture along the Snohomish River road just outside of Everett the other day got me thinking about Vultures. Vultures are pretty cool birds and I am lucky to have counted one as a yard bird as it wobbled northward over my house in North Everett in April of 2008.

As a regular yard bird Turkey Vultures do present some challenges. My sister and brother-in-law own a little chunk of wildlife paradise down in SW New Mexico. In an area of millions of acres of sparse Creosote and Mesquite covered terrain, they are blessed to be on a permanent stream that supports an Arizona Sycamore grove of astonishing beauty. Everybody agrees on that, especially all the critters.

These Sycamores are truly huge, and one particular tree, the tallest, attracts Vultures. There are often 30 or so birds roosting up in the treetop. Cool! Except for one little problem. This tree , not too far from the main house, is right on the path to their little guest casita. Vultures are well known of course for their diet of dead stuff - stuff that don't smell too good. Well , apparently, nothing in the digestive processes of a Vulture improves the smell of their dietary intake any, and the Vulture spew or poo - whatever end of the Vulture the results come from - smells nauseatingly bad. 30 Vultures can produce quite a quantity of the stuff I hear. While wildlife lovers, my sister and brother-in-law have resorted to the occasional shotgun blast into the sky to spook these funereal friends to another part of the grove. Interestingly, this Spring Great Blue Herons took over the tall Sycamore for nesting for the first time, and are acting as Vulture police, at least temporarily.

I will end with the best (and only) Vulture joke I know:

Two Vultures find a dead clown on the side of the road.
After they're done eating, one Vulture asks the other
"did that taste funny to you?"

Jeff Gibson
still alive in
Everett Wa