Vultures

April 12, 1994: A Black Vulture flew through the back yard three times. I think it was looking for a place to nest, or maybe something to eat.

I'll never forget the first time I saw Turkey Vultures. Riding on a country road in Fayette County, western Tennessee, we went around a curve and there were several right there at the edge of the road on my side. What a start that was! WOW were they ugly! - and big. It was hard to believe those poor, ugly creatures are the same ones I love to watch, fascinated by their beautiful, subtle curve of wing.

Never the less, when I see Vultures floating on thermals or updrafts and gliding in air, I can't help but envy them; they look so free and detached from the world below - and its troubles. Their floating gracefulness makes it look effortless. My favorite time to watch them is in the spring during "family time", I guess. I don't know a lot about them; they seem to be solitary most of the year, but in spring it is not unusual to see a family of two or more in what appears to be a playful, slow, gliding aerial ballet. It is beautiful to watch. And, I can only imagine the exuberant joy in the breasts of the young ones new to that life in the sky.

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