Monday, August 29, 2022

More About Vultures Than You Ever Wanted To Know


There you go- a picture of vultures. Or, as we call them around here, turkey buzzards. I really missed the best shot which was of about ten of them in that space, all with wings spread like so many English brollys in a downpour.  I had crossed the road so as not to scare them but just as I was aiming my phone to get a shot, a car drove by and scared them off. As far as I know, I've never seen that particular wing-spreading behavior before. I just looked it up on this site to discover that they do it for several reasons including thermo-regulation, help with parasites, and also for drying their wings. This is called the "horaltic pose." How cool is that? I had no idea. I also learned that vultures shit on their legs and feet so that the acid in their poop will kill possibly dangerous bacteria they've picked up by walking around on dead and rotting things. It's really no mystery why we consider these so-very-important birds to be nasty. 
I thought surely that the large group of them I saw this morning must have some very large dead animal they were feasting on but I did not see so much as a scrap of armadillo. Maybe they were just having a little committee of vultures, which is the proper term for a bunch of them just sitting around exchanging carcass-stripping techniques or perhaps family matters. 

So yes, I did take a walk this morning. God, I did not want to. I kept trying to come up with excuses not to but Mr. Moon was already at the gym working out and it was slightly overcast and thus, not apt to be quite as deadly hot, and really, I had no excuse. Of course, just like yesterday when I decided to go work in the garden because it was overcast and then the sun came blasting out, this is what it looked like after I'd been pounding that sidewalk for a mile or so.


Still somewhat cloudy but WAY off on distant horizons. That is one of the shadiest portions of my route. 
Damn. 
We're still in the nineties here daily with very high humidity. Blessedly, we are getting some rain almost every day. 
When I got home, Mr. Moon was back from his work-out and I asked him how it had gone and he told me and then he asked me how my walk had been and I said, "Look at me." 
That was all I needed to say. 

But because I suffered, I have felt virtuous all day long. I thought about digging up some more sweet potatoes but could not bear the thought of going back outside in the heat and so I did a little light housecleaning and some laundry and so on and so forth. I started a stock for a fish and corn chowder we'll be having tonight. I cooked us some delicious snapper last night and those leftovers will go into the soup. I roasted some peanuts which is a new favorite snack around here. And I've fiddled around with the sourdough bread dough I made up last night. I left it in the refrigerator overnight and took it out this morning and it's looking pretty fit to go into the oven. Soup and bread- what more do you need? 

I mentioned to the man yesterday that we haven't made ice cream in forever and he's been thinking about it ever since. He actually stopped at the Dollar General on his way home from town today to get some moth balls (they have been suggested as a way to get foxes out of their burrows) and he reported that not only do they have some produce stocked now but they had people restocking shelves all over the store AND that they had large containers of half and half in case I wanted to, uh, make that ice cream. I had to tell him that I needed actual cream for ice cream. He was a bit crestfallen. 
I have promised him that I will get cream soon, ice cream to follow. 

And so that has been my day. 
Here's a picture that Jessie sent of Levon waiting to get his covid booster. 



Cool kid with long legs. Tomorrow I'll see the Hartmann children as Lily has a gap she needs filled before she gets off work. I'll be picking up those kidlings at the bus stop. 

Bread's in the oven! Time to make the chowder. 

Love...Ms. Moon



26 comments:

  1. Here's another little factoid about vultures: if they are feeding along side the road and you come across them in a vehicle, they always wait until the last possible minute to lift off. If they have misjudged, they will jettison their stomach contents for faster lift-off.

    Also, they have been studied in great depth to discover how they can eat all this rancid road kill without being sick. The goal is to come up with a way to avoid 'Montezuma's revenge'.

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    1. I thought that they had enzymes in their stomach acid or something. I do not know. But they don't seem to get sick. I have noticed that phenomena where they wait until the last second but have never noticed them puking. They are odd animals.

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  2. This explanation about turkey vultures, the ones we have kettles of, certainly explains the smell when you get up close.

    I do like how you cut away from vultures to ice cream!! Strong stomach.

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    1. Eh- I was a nurse. Plus, I have four kids. Also, chickens. I do have a pretty strong stomach.

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  3. I am happy to learn about vultures from you and you can keep them way over there. Your soup and bread dinner sounds delicious. As does the home made ice-cream. Does your local store not stock cream?

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    1. Publix usually does stock cream but I wasn't ready to make that trip. Turns out there's a heavy cream shortage. Lily says Publix doesn't have any anyway.

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  4. we have tons of vultures where we live (very rural) and many times see them all lined up on fenceposts in the early morning with wings spread out.....taking in the morning sun. Not the prettiest birds.....but important to the ecosystem. You've done more in one day than I could ever hope to accomplish, especially in your heat.... my hat is off to you! I'm *preparing* for hubby to leave tomorrow to head to his Dad's in Arizona....for 8-10 days. TMI, but I am looking forward to *me* time..... and a 3 day visit next week from a dear friend.......eat, drink, sleep, cook, whatever and whenever I want........ it will be quiet, but welcomed.
    How did Levon's legs get so long all of a sudden?
    Susan M

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    1. That is NOT TMI! I think my husband is going to be gone for at least half of October. He hasn't gotten around to telling me about his November plans yet! Ha!
      I do not have any idea how Levon's legs are growing so fast. He's part giraffe?

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  5. I was introduced to turkey vultures at the township garage. They roosted there in dead trees. Also, I was told on the authority of the road super, they laid their eggs on the flat roof of the road garage and let the sun incubate the eggs. They occasionally knocked the eggs over the edge, and they would also roll down the incline and over the edge.

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    1. Doesn't sound like the vultures were very good at figuring out where to lay eggs. I did read that they are good parents, feeding their young for eight months. I'd rather not think about what constitutes baby buzzard feed.

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  6. I can smell that bread baking from here! Levon is looking "cool" with his sunnies. I love the sidewalk along the road, here is would be a dirt strip or nothing at all. Footpaths are only within city limits here, often narrow and uneven in the suburbs.

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    1. Well, for some reason a few years ago, Lloyd got some extra funds to install that sidewalk. It's weird that it's here but it's sort of nice.
      The bread was good. And trust me- Levon IS cool.

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  7. In the past, I read about designs for chicken coops on skids or wheels, so they could be moved from place to place to give the chickens fresh scratching grounds. Mostly in books on Permaculture. Perhaps you could look up a few sites and Mr Moon could build you such a coop?

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    1. Yes. We do know about those coops and Mr. Moon built one for young chicks. It was awfully heavy to move around. One big enough (in my opinion) for five adults would be pretty unwieldy.

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  8. Have you been stretching Levon's legs? Such a beautiful child!
    I had a nice surprise yesterday while perusing the veg. in the supermarket....a little voice beside me said " Hello Grandma".....my 4 and half year old grandson and his Dad ( my son)!

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    1. What a great surprise! I love it when I run into my kids and grands unexpectedly!

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  9. I think "a committee of vultures" is a good nickname for the Maga group, altho, that's a bit insulting to vultures, isn't it?! :)

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  10. Look at the legs on that kid. Definitely got some of Mr Moon's genes. Plenty of vultures out here. I see them floating on the thermals when they aren't cleaning up the roadways. Our temps have dropped into the 80s for now. Glory be! and I made myself do my yoga routine yesterday and today. Two days in a row!

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    1. Vultures are excellent thermal surfers, aren't they? Their wings are huge.
      Eighty degree temps do sound like heaven. Soon here, I am hoping.
      And hurray for you, doing your yoga!

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  11. Levon's legs DO look extraordinarily long in that picture!

    Are vultures the same as turkey buzzards? I always thought they were slightly different but I could be wrong. I thought turkey buzzards had red on the face.

    How I wish we got rain every day!

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    1. Oh, they're probably different but that's what they're just called locally.
      We haven't had rain today. Maybe tomorrow.

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  12. For several years, we had 30-40 turkey vultures hanging around our neighborhood. One neighbor, whose car--and driveway--was completely covered in buzzard poop every morning, finally cut down a large number of tall pine trees in his yard (where the birds roosted each night) because the mess was so extensive. The yard of the neighbor behind him (also with many tall pines) was so deep in their sh!te, they could no longer go outside. And let's just say it isn't too delightful to watch that many buzzards circling your house for hours each day. I used to go out and clap loudly to dissuade them from hanging around our trees. They are a protected species here. But I guess, the birds found a new nesting place and moved on. Thankfully, not in our neighborhood. Mary

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    1. That sounds like a nightmare! I am so glad they moved on but sorry that people had to cut trees down to get them to move. Ugh.

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  13. I remember turkey buzzards when we lived in the country. The most I ever saw were circling in the sky. Reports of their stench when a family member approached some on the ground convinced me I didn't want to go near them. Now, with what you've described here, I'm sure I'd want to avoid them.

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  14. You reminded me that I have to book our covid boosters. Grace won't let Jack have a vaccination because she batshit crazy/stupid.

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