Enjoying the Windy Day

  A few days ago, I spent the afternoon hiking about the acreage at my daughter and son-in-law's place.  They have such a nice place for hiking! Hills, creeks, woods, bogs...all make for interesting finds.  While out and about, she and I noticed a vulture flying high in the sky above us. Circling, circling...forever circling above our heads.  Hmmm, that did not bode well for something.  Hopefully, that vulture did not have his eye on us!

  Before long, we noticed that instead of one vulture, there were now several.  The number grew until there were dozens of the birds all circling around us.  Sometimes, the vultures would swoop down just above our heads.  This gave us a good idea of just how large the birds were and how gracefully they could soar.  The vultures were actually beautiful!  Yes, I know.  It is not often that you hear "graceful" and "beautiful" describing vultures but the birds actually are when you really start watching them and studying them.  We noticed that there were several Turkey Vultures with their telltale red heads and then dozens of the Black Vultures with dark colored heads.  

  With so many of the vultures flying overhead (we counted at least thirty!),  Elizabeth and I started pondering if some critter had died or was in the process of dying nearby.  We searched the area but did not find a thing.  Perhaps the birds were circling for another reason other than the old "Western" movie theory of a dying cowboy.  After not finding anything that could be "drawing" the vultures, we decided that the birds were merely soaring on the air currents.  It was quite a windy day making it perfect for a bit of high flying!