Spring has Sprung: Turkey Vultures Return to Nash County

[warden291]

Originally Posted by Darb85

didnt ben franklin want this to be our countries national bird?

No....I believe that was the wild turkey Bro.

[Mister Moo]

Originally Posted by warden291

No....I believe that was the wild turkey Bro.

If Franklin had argued for Wild Turkey as the national beverage instead of the national bird he would have been our nation's second, and perhaps greatest, president. Gobble-gobble. If Franklin had been more persistent, our own Icehog3 might be drinking Manhattans instead of Stoli-tinis. Wild stuff. Wild.

But lets not loose focus on the point of this thread - a solid discussion about turkey vultures.



Oops.

[tzaddi]

[SIZE="3"]OK back to turkey vultures.
I find it amazing that with all of the road clean-up they do I have only found two dead in the road over the years. They both appeared to be juveniles. The first time I stopped and removed it from the road the next time I did not have the opportunity.

Turkey Vulture Cathartes aura, Cathartes (Greek for "purifier"), aura, late Middle English (originally denoting a gentle breeze): via Latin from Greek, ‘breeze, breath.’

Here is an interesting story concerning how the turkey vulture came to have a bald head.

In the earliest of times, the sun lived very close to the earth - so close in fact that life upon the earth was becoming unbearable. The animal world got together and decided to do something about it. They wanted to move the sun further away.

The fox was the first to volunteer, and he grabbed the sun in his mouth and began to run to the heavens. After a short while, the sun became too hot, burning the fox's mouth, and he stopped. To this day, the inside of the fox's mouth is black. Then the opossum volunteered. He wrapped his tail around the sun and began running toward the heavens. Before long though, the sun became too hot, burning its tail, and he had to stop. To this day the opossum has no hair upon its tail.

It was then that vulture stepped forward. Vulture was the most beautiful and powerful of birds. Upon its head was a beautiful mantle of rich feathering that all other birds envied. Knowing that the earth would burn up unless someone moved the sun, the vulture placed its head against it and began to fly to the heavens. With powerful strokes of its wings, it pushed and pushed the sun further and further up into the heavens. Though it could feel its crown feathers burning, the vulture continued until the sun was set at a safe distance in the sky away from the earth. Unfortunately, vulture lost its magnificent head of feathers for eternity.

In the Greek tradition, the vulture was considered to be a descendant of the griffin.

To the Pueblo Indians, it was a symbol of purification.

In folk beliefs, when turkey vultures comes back after winter, there will be no more frost.

The vulture is a member of the raptor family and is thus protected by law.

Here is another shot, this one from 2005.[/SIZE]

[Mister Moo]

Originally Posted by tzaddi

[SIZE=3]OK back to turkey vultures.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=3]In folk beliefs, when turkey vultures comes back after winter, there will be no more frost.[/SIZE]

Or, in my case, the (well) water pump craps out that night.

Nice pix, for a buzzard lover.

[tzaddi]

Last Thursday evening around 6PM I walked out onto my bedroom balcony that looks across the valley and was amazed to see hundreds of Turkey Vultures gathering in the sky. I have never seen so many in one place before.

[shilala]

Originally Posted by tzaddi

Last Thursday evening around 6PM I walked out onto my bedroom balcony that looks across the valley and was amazed to see hundreds of Turkey Vultures gathering in the sky. I have never seen so many in one place before.

You better look out back and make sure one of your elephants didn't die!!!

[hk3]

Do you live near a Captain D's or a Long John Silvers?

[Mister Moo]

Originally Posted by hk3

Do you live near a Captain D's or a Long John Silvers?

Maybe. Do you live near Charlie Maxwell?