Discussion: vultures

Of course, getting "amazingly close" to vultures sort of implies they are getting amazingly close to you, too! The thing that struck me about them was how big they looked. I suppose they had their feathers fluffed up, but they were huge.

And here I was thinking that maybe they were juveniles. I guess I expect vultures to be big. They're the biggest birds around in these parts, right? (Assuming condors don't often get up this way. Or ostriches.)

Doubt if ostriches would fly off.

Did you see my note of last week: We had a flock of 6 or 7 vultures settle into the trees behind the house for the night. They arrived just at sunset, swooping around, checking the scene and then just hunkered into the pines. Could barely see them up near the tops of the trees.

They are a pretty common sight flying in these parts, and particularly interesting because, since we are on the mountain, we often see them from above. This was different, in that they were closer and just sitting around chewing the fat, so to speak.