Yesterday I took recycling and trash to the landfill and recycling center down in town. There is always a population of gregarious Black Vultures hanging around the facility looking for a meal. They’re most often in the trees. This day though they were convened on a hillside as if at the edge of a lake or at the shore, so I had to take advantage of the situation and get some pictures. It was interesting approaching these creatures. They tolerated my presence and just moved away slightly, slowly, if I got too close. It was as if they were all thinking, “Okay, who let this woman in?”

These large birds are part of Mother Nature’s cleanup crew, two, to two and a half feet long, head to tail. With a wingspan of around five feet. They’re called Mother Nature’s cleanup crew since they help stop the spread of disease by removing carcasses and actually eating dangerous pathogens. With powerful stomach acid and gut flora they help decontaminate our environment. Black Vultures are native to northeastern United States to South America, all the way to Peru, Central Chile and Uruguay. The more I read about them the more I appreciate them.

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