All In a Day's Work

Exploring along the river the other day, I saw these huge black birds descend from the treeline onto a sandbar in the distance - six of them - and they were massive.

They swooped in like the winged steeds of the Nazgul* and I felt that I was watching some ancient drama unfold.  Indeed, I was.

I hustled across the nicely mowed grass of the park and into the overcast woods, intent on getting a close-range photo.  Disregarding the poison ivy, I hurried through the woods, carefully stepping over the sticks and leaves - quieter than Natty Bumpo in a Cooper novel.**

Edging slowly out of the woods, I faced the ultimate decision.  How dirty was I willing to get?  I could stay where I was and be happy with blurry pixels, or I could surrender to the bog between me and them and get much sharper photos.

What are Keen's for except to be sprayed down after an adventure?

Throwing caution to the wind, I pressed forward and sank into the mud, but I got my pictures.

I was able to positively I.D. the birds.  I knew it.  They were vultures.  What else in the mid-western birding world is that big, and that black, and congregates like that?

"Well, well, well, what do you know?" I said to myself.  I had just written a post on turkey vultures a few days ago, and now here were six of them at once.  You can read that post here:  http://foundonthetrail.blogspot.com/2013/09/turkey-vulture.html

The Canada geese nearby raised a warning cry as I began snapping away in the early morning breeze.

A wake of vultures

A group of vultures eating are called a "wake".  Roosting vultures are called a "committee", "volt" or "venue".  (Thank you, Wikipedia.)  This was definitely a wake, because there was something dead over there, just over the rise of the sandbar.  They were noshing on it like early morning coworkers gathered around a big brown bag of Panera bagels.

Eating carrion - it's all in a day's work.


*The Nazgul were nine men turned into ring wraiths by the power of evil in J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings trilogy.  They went abroad on horseback, and later upon the backs of fell winged creatures.

**James Fenimore Cooper was an early 19th century American author who wrote the Leatherstocking Tales, including The Deerslayer, The Pathfinder, and The Last of the Mohicans.  The series' hero was Nathaniel Bumpo, otherwise known as Hawkeye.  He was famous for his silent passage through the woods and his amazing sharpshooting abilities.  Some call Cooper's frontier novels the forerunners of today's westerns.