THEY EAT THE DEAD - 5/6/20

 

THEY EAT THE DEAD

BY: PEGGY WILLIAMS AKA Birdie of Mississippi

 

Yesterday afternoon I looked out my kitchen window and I was surprised to see that there weren’t any birds at my feeders or feasting on the ground.  My first thought was there must be a cat hiding in the bushes, but then there was movement on a branch up about 25 feet.  The bird sitting there was HUGE! Since it was sitting in the shadows I couldn’t quite make out what type of bird it was.  I called my husband Dennis to come quick!  I thought it was a hawk since I have witnessed hawks swooping down to drag away squirrels or unsuspecting birds. Since Dennis is much better at recognizing the shapes of birds, he quickly told me that it was a Turkey Vulture and we both said “Yuck”! 

 

As I am thinking “Wow, what is going on in my yard?”! I see in the adjacent backyard another Vulture, and another, then another!  And circling overhead are 5 or 6 more and resting on another limb in the next yard are two more!  This whole thing was getting creepier by the minute!  And then I hear a tree branch in my neighbor’s yard crack and a half dozen Vultures go down with their huge wings flapping in the wind! There had been so many sitting on it that it caused the old limb to break.  I clapped loudly and made as much noise as I could and eventually they seemed to all leave. 

 

This morning as I picked up limbs I walked to the back of my yard where the honeysuckle is in bloom in hopes of enjoying its pleasant smell, but now there is an underlying smell of something dead on the other side of our neighbor’s fence.  Since they have ducks I had fears that one of their ducks had bit the dust at the claws of one of these Vultures.

 

Since I was disgusted by the thought of these nasty looking birds with ugly red faces, I quickly did some research to learn more about them.  When I had a little Pug I was always afraid to leave him outside by himself because I thought one of these would sink its claws into my little Frankie’s back and carry him away to eat him.  Those fears were totally unfounded according to pethelpful.com. Turkey Vultures like to eat herbivores, not carnivores or omnivores.  They like to eat animals that are vegetarians! So they aren’t likely to eat our pets or our children! 

 

The other miss-thought was that they would “sink their claws into his back.” According to Audubon.org Turkey Vultures are the only scavenger birds that can’t kill their prey.  They don’t have claws for feet like hawks or eagles, but little chicken type feet.  

 

Turkey vultures have a keen sense of smell and they fly low to sniff out freshly dead animals.  They don’t want to eat really rotten carcasses.  The Turkey Vulture was the red face vulture that I saw sitting on the branch in my backyard. He was trying to figure out where the dead smell was coming from.  The flying vultures that were circling high in the air were Black Vultures.  The Black Vulture can’t smell as the Turkey Vulture can, so they wait until the Turkey Vulture locates the dead animal. They then run him off.  When they get their fill the Turkey comes back for the leftovers.  Sort of makes me feel sorry for him – NOT! They still make me sick, but they are a very necessary part of nature.  Once again I have learned a lot as “I look at the birds of the air…” Matthew 6:26.  My photos may be viewed & “LIKED” on Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest - “Birdie of Mississippi”. E-mail: birdieofmississippi@gmail.com