New Addition?

It's the strangest thing I've ever seen. If not ever, then in a really long time. I'm sad to say I don't know a lot about them except they're ugly and eat dead things. No not them, Turkey Vulture's! (I know what you thought I was going to say…) 

Preacher man noticed them first, but as I sit at my desk, look out my side window, which faces west, I see over 50, sitting in the pine trees, sunning themselves.

So what's the deal with them anyway? I looked up some stuff and when I learn something new, you get to learn something new! So here we go class:
In many areas these huge birds are also called 'Buzzards". They are called Turkey Vultures, not because they eat Turkey's but I'm sure they have and will, but because when they stand on the ground, they look like a Turkey! This Vulture is unique in the way it finds carrion, the decaying flesh of dead animals, which is by smell as well as sight. Here's the coolest part I found, when they feel threatened, they defend themselves by vomiting powerful stomach acids.

The top 2 pictures I took last night as the sun was setting here in the Valley. There were well over 100 of them floating around up in the air above our house. I had a thought that maybe one of the neighborhood barkers was being eaten, but I can't report on that for sure yet. 

This morning, I took the last picture from my window. Are they look at me, like I'm looking at them? If they can see dead carrion from way up in the air and doing a circle around it the whole time, surly they can see me sitting at my computer, reading what I'm writing about them.

So here's what I'm going to believe until I find out something different. They are warming themselves in the pine trees. In fact, they look as though they might be praying! Yeah, that's it!  I have praying buzzards, watching over me as I blog! 

Heres a few things I'm not going to do. Threaten any of them! I do not want to go to the hospital ER and explain that my skin is burning off my body because a Turkey Vulture vomited on me. They might say something like, Stop provoking them lady and this won't happen! I am also not going to go under the tree and watch them. They seem to poop a lot too!

So that's your new information about life here at Oasis in the Valley. 

Don't forget to keep looking up!

I crack myself up sometimes!!