Vulture Veneration

Turkey Vulture

Today is a very special day that comes but once a year. It's International Vulture Awareness Day.

Happy International Vulture Awareness Day!



A quartet of Turkey Vultures

I really like Turkey Vultures, and I try to do something special each year on International Vulture Awareness Day. However, I had never thought of considering Turkey Vulture for my Top Ten Favorite Bird List. That is, until I heard from a certain young lady in Omaha. She wrote: "Vultures are my favorite bird because of the way they help purify the life cycle, for loving their young, because they are neither inherently violent nor inherently peaceful, and because they have a very unique way of communicating with other vultures miles away." I couldn't have said it better myself. So, who knows? Maybe Turkey Vulture will become one of my top ten favorite birds. Wouldn't that be a shocker!

 

Juvenile Turkey Vulture showing its perforate nares

In honor of vultures on their special day, here is a tribute to vultures by someone more eloquent than I:

Let us praise the noble Turkey Vulture.
No one envies him.
He harms nobody.
And he contemplates our little world
from a most serene and noble height.

          - Edward Abbey


Turkey Vulture drying its wings