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[Beekissed]

I think they are beautiful...especially in flight!

 

[the1much]

my wifers saw a lady on t.v. that had 2 vultures,,,,,,,,guess what she wants nows??? :|

 

[amazondoc]

Vultures are actually very interesting birds. I used to know a tame one, and he was quite funny.

I don't know whether anyone mentioned it yet or not (haven't read the whole thread), but vultures find their food (dead animals) through smell. They are one of the few birds with a really good sense of smell.

 

[Mom2Cool]

I disagree. To me it looks like a horror movie.

Where as a hawk is magestic and speaks of dignity.

 

[fowltemptress]

Turkey Vultures are everywhere here . . . beautiful creatures that make it virtually unnecessary to find a way to dispose of dead livestock and whatnot. I've often thought I'd rather be fed to the vultures than buried when I die. Being buried just seems so repulsive to me.

There is a place near here which is interesting . . . A road near some of those heavy duty power line thingies, to use the technical term.

One side of the road is level forested land, but the other side is a sheer cliff that you can't see from the other side of the road. Deer often run across the road, not knowing about the cliff presumably, and subsequently fall to their death. This happens all the time, which of course brings in hundreds of turkey vultures . . . and once a certain number of vultures sets down on those wires, they receive a huge shock and die. The place is a huge wildlife death trap that smells disgusting constantly, they're always having to clean it up.

No real point to that, it's just an odd little place to look for if you happen to be in Texas. If you see a pile of dead deer and vultures, you'll know why . . .

And since I'm thinking of vultures, I just remembered my grandmother's run in with one. She was driving down a country road, the buffet palace of vultures everywhere. On the shoulder of the road there was some sort of roadkill with vultures having their fill, and her car passed too close for comfort so they scattered. My grandmother had both windows of her car down, and one of the vultures somehow found its way though one window, scrabbled around a bit with my grandmother trying desperately to stop the car, and then it hopped passed my grandmother and out the other window. She says the only clear impression she got of the thing was it's size . . . she'd never known that they were that big, since you usually only see them in the skies or at a dead thing on sides of roads. My grandmother is famous for weird things happening to her car, and this is one of my favorites to hear about. I make her repeat it every Thanksgiving

I had originally intended to tell the OP to not feel so bad, but I read she had decided to quit reading this post, so I hope y'all forgive this self indulgent little posting . . .

 

[fowltemptress]

Aww . . . people need to see vultures up close . . . they are absolutely gorgeous, and can rival any hawk in my affections. Plus, they're the hoover vacuums of the carrion world. There's no sense knocking a good cleaning product.

 

[amazondoc]

Speaking of majestic....

The bald eagle, "majestic" symbol of our country, also does a lot of scavenging -- as well as often stealing prey from other birds. So does the golden eagle. In fact, Benjamin Franklin didn't much like eagles, and wanted the turkey to be the national symbol. Go poultry!

 

[Mom2Cool]

LOL well I guess everyone has their visual preferrence huh? A turkey? hmmm I dunno.

 

[chicknmania]

Sorry, but I hope you're busted. Shame on you.

 

[luvmychicknkids]

Quote:
I wouldn't worry about it all that much. Turkey vultures are the most disgusting bird I've ever seen in my life! Yes they do sit in wait of something that is dying & they will zero in on a *dead thing* faster than you can blink...... I missed the original post and so I do urge you to check around to see if they/it was seeing something already dead....? I know someone who had them in her back yard feasting on a dead fish inwith 2 hrs. of seeing it. When she realized it was actually eating something in her yard (one of her coi fish) she was so grossed out she couldn't bring herself to go out & clean up the fish but just shoo away the *huge bird* & it only shoo's to the tree & then will just wait to see what's coming at it etc. In the mean time there were more birds being attracted to her yard I guess by the callof the first bird! A neighbor finally came over and cleaned it up for her and then they finally left. There isone area of town here where they just all hang in the trees & there are SO many of themit's just digusting! I can't believe they could possibly be on an endangered list??? ewww

We have the hawks here too & my chickens don't know how close they came to the hawk getting one of them if not for the dogs bbarking & looking like they wanted wings to take flight after them. I do let mine free range the back yard which is really just like a quarter of an acre that is fenced in. I only let them out when I'm at home but seriously it could be in the blink of an eye. I've had the Hawk here many many times before and after we had the chickens and at least he/she is a majestic bird with a real purpose in life which would be to keep down the rodents etc. Thank GOD for the prey birds or the animal rights people would have us over run with chipmunks, mice & rats too....

This is one of those posts that leaves you going

Alright, so let me make sure I got this right. your god made hawks, eagles, etc (since you mentioned birds of prey I assume Eagles among others) to serve a purpose. They eat all the little animals you find useless and disgusting (mice, rats, etc.). They benefit society with this "purpose" and therefore should be loved and protected. Now just who then do you credit for the vultures? and what about the nasty little mice and rats that feed those birds of prey? And last I checked being the roadkill cleanup crew was a valid purpose. I know the maggots can get it done but I am sure you don't like them either and they are much slower. So yeah, just a big

Anyway, I find all birds amazing, vultures are certainly no exception. the kids and I love to find some feeding and just pull over and watch them!!!

That is a too funny story about your grandmother and her "car vulture" fowltemptress. I can't even imagine what a shock that was!!!!