Waiting For The Scent of Flesh



Patiently they wait and watch--for an offering from me.



"My" vultures are back, catching  warmimg rays on the metal roof of my old barn.
All photos by Jonathan Schechter

Now that warmth has returned so have my turkey vultures. 
 I feed birds. In the winter a mix of seed and suet brings in the usual mix of backyard species.
Yesterday I  filled the hummingbird feeders with their sugar water mixture and wait for our tinest bird.
 But yesterday I noticed another species I have been feeding for the past 3 warm weather seasons
(they migrate south in the winter) have returned to my yard and are they are waiting for me to act.
And they don't want sugar water.

They are waiting for my fleshy offerings.

Not visable in these hurridly shot and slightly blurred photos is my vulture feeder: A 4 foot square
elevated platform between the house and the 1860's barn.
On this platform I present my road kill offerings of pancaked possum, squished squirrel, rancid
rabbit  or their favorite, tire-whacked woodchuck. And when the time is right a farming friend adds
alpaca placenta to the fleshy treats.  I feel bad that they are waiting for I have not yet
made a single offering, but I smiled at their return. Stay tuned for the strange saga of feeding these
magnifcant high-soaring birds that like to drop down from the sky for an easy-pickings putrid lunch.
That is their way. And that is their job in nature's way.