2016 - Day 104/262 - Wednesday...

For the past three days (today was the third day) I have encountered an ever growing number of buzzards at a certain low water crossing on the way too and from the office. I have thought about stopping a couple times, but visions of a black-and-white Alfred Hitchcock moving kept going through my head, so I just kept on going. This afternoon on the way home I decided to stop. There were probably between 12 and 18 buzzards at various states of relaxation, but my stopping caused them a serious amount of anxiety. Most of them were on the opposite side of the road from where they had been gathering, so I checked that side out first. Water was flowing nicely, but nothing that seemed to appeal to a clean up crew we know as Buzzards. On the other side of the road was the source of all the interest, a dead calf. Sad, but part of the whole scheme of things. At least it was not some other mammal that I would have had to report to the local gendarmes.

A few facts about buzzards (as long as we are on the subject: Buzzards eat road-kill, the carcasses of animals, just about any dead animal. They were, as a matter of fact, an essential part of the eco-system when Mr. Speckles drowned last year. They are not picky eaters, but they will leave the scent-pouch of dead skunks for the even less fortunates down the food chain. Their eye sight is poor in the dark, so they only move around in the daytime. They perch in large flocks quite often. They don't usually start moving around till about 9AM, when the daytime temps are heating up.

So there, now you know.

Deeds, Actions, Changes, BUZZARDS, Kindnesses, Whirled Peas, FUN!