Comments on: Why are vultures eating in restaurants?

By: Marg

Marg — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 20:45:16 +0000

Again, I got it wrong. What I’m trying to say is I know that the word is NOT spelled v-i-g-i-l-e-n-t !! My excuse is that these days when I spot a buzzard overhead, I can’t help wondering if it has checked my expiration date and doesn’t mind the short wait! When you post 3 in a row, are you talking to yourself?? Oh, dear.

By: Marg

Marg — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 20:01:15 +0000

The word is vigilant – vigilent. I need someone to proof my posts.

By: Marg

Marg — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 19:56:08 +0000

As a native Texan and a “country girl”, I have noticed that you don’t see buzzards themselves as roadkill on those FMs very often. They dine on the edge of the narrow, winding roads, generally as a party of 3 or more, and have an uncanny knack of dodging speeding pickup trucks on very short notice. Are they super smart or hypervigilent? Do they have extraordinary hearing? Do they have a designated lookout buzzard stationed down the road a way? Don’t know. I do know they have an important role in our world. Just wish they weren’t so damned ugly and would lay off the vomiting and peeing on their legs. I’ve always heard they upchuck to lighten their weight so they can get aloft faster when threatened and they urinate on their legs to avoid infection while tromping around in rotting carcasses. Are these things true?

By: Ann Ivins

Ann Ivins — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 17:53:18 +0000

I love the term “sky burial.”

By: Lex

Lex — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 03:28:10 +0000

I don’t know if the dinosaur to bird evolutionary theory is still fashionable or found its way into the dust-bin of history, but it still makes for a great imagination game. Vultures are one of my favorite birds to imagine as a dinosaur; strangely, it’s not nearly as frightening as imagining sea gull dinosaurs.

Here the road kill mostly goes to the crows and ravens. But the turkey vultures are regularly overhead. I assume that they’re eating in the woods. I can’t seem to help stopping for a moment and just marveling at their soaring.

By: Dawn

Dawn — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 21:42:29 +0000

That’s synchronicity – I just finished reading a story with a passage about vultures and sky burial. Vultures have been venerated birds through out history. They were deities to the Egyptians.

Wonderful creatures, I’m sorry they are suffering…

By: Ann Ivins

Ann Ivins — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 16:48:01 +0000

Thanks, Russ. Erupted – very apt.

And it’s true about the buzzards – anyone who’s ever rounded a curve on FM 46 at night and almost hit a deer carcass really, really appreciates our unfortunate-looking feathered friends. They move it, they eat it, they don’t ask for overtime.

By: Russ Wellen

Russ Wellen — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 16:38:39 +0000

Ann wrote:

They’re the most efficient, low-maintenance highway cleanup imaginable; on our long, twisty farm-to-market roads they’re usually the only reliable crew.

That’s pretty funny. Wanted to thank you for your last post (just didn’t want to do it in the context of the thread of comments that erupted).

By: Ann Ivins

Ann Ivins — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 15:56:14 +0000

non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug

NSAIDs – wow. Agricultural Advil kills buzzards. That sucks.

Buzzard, by the way, is the scientific Texan name, and anyone who lives in a semi-rural area around here has a sincere appreciation for them. They’re the most efficient, low-maintenance highway cleanup imaginable; on our long, twisty farm-to-market roads they’re usually the only reliable crew. In flight – yes, they’re a marvel.

Plus you get to scare your little brother by shrieking,”Buzzards! Oh no – keep moving! Keep moving!”