I seem to have some sort of odd fascination with these “ugly” birds. When I see them, I just can’t help but do my best to make the time to get pics of them.
A couple weeks ago, we spotted a bunch hanging out in Estes Park but, as we were needing to get home, I couldn’t stop. This past weekend, I headed back up to Rocky Mountain National Park and made sure to allow time to visit with these guys if they were around – and indeed they were.
A dozen of them were sunning themselves while perched on a high-tension power pole in town. After snapping bunches of pics of them posing, they decided it was time to head out to hunt and I got some pretty cool flybys, including these two images.
Yeah, I know turkey vultures won’t win any beauty contests, but I think they are neat. They can soar as well as any large bird and, perhaps most importantly, they perform a vital role as nature’s garbage collectors. They feed on carrion they find lying around dead like rabbits, prairie dogs and such and are believed to be able to smell the dead animals up to a mile away. In cleaning up the dead, they help to prevent the spread of disease from the carcasses.
