My New Neighbors, The Angels Of Death.

Well… they’ve got wings and they are looking over me, anyway.

I discovered this morning that I have new neighbors. I had suspected them earlier, but they keep to themselves. But less than 100 meters from my front door, high in an oak tree, is a family of turkey vultures!Neighbors

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I think these ones are juveniles; one did his best to look all scary:
Scary

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And did his best Angel Of Death imitation:
wings

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

But he couldn’t fool me–I saw what a sweet, sweet face he has:
face

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Welcome to the neighborhood, flying dinosaurs! (Click pics to embiggen!)

A Thousand Words: Pensive

Reading Taslima’s recent posts, here and here, I was taken aback, just a bit. I mean, I really don’t think we need to look to our closest relatives to see common ancestry. I took this picture a few years ago, and I can’t look at it without thinking he or she is my cousin. (Mind you, some of my actual cousins are creationists, so I feel more kinship with this one than them…)

pensive

Might be deep in thought… might not. Same can be said of me.

A Thousand Words: Beautiful Couple

A picture is worth a thousand words, or so I hear. This beautiful couple showed up in a local stream, in a pond just upstream of an old mill building.
Hooded Merganser pair

It’s early spring (duh), and these gorgeous Hooded Mergansers are on their way north. For the time being, they are showing up wherever there is open water. I have shots from four different nearby locations in three days, from a tidal bay to a roadside stream. (click to embiggen, of course)
Male

Female
Isn’t this a beautiful world?