Last week, I finally got to photograph, and identify, some Black Vultures. I have seen these huge raptors many times since moving to the Houston area and they always surprise me. They are so large! 
I saw about 20 of these incredible birds. (They were feeding on an armadillo.) At first, I tried to just slow down and take some photos from the car. But, then I parked at a fast food restaurant and walked down the road. I wasn't sure if they were dangerous or not - they're big enough to be scary. They came up past my knees!
You might want to enlarge this last one - and then again, maybe not! :-) I was really photographing the vulture in front, but when I looked at the photo, I was amazed at the one in the back. He's on the ground feeding on the armadillo... with his knees bent "backwards!" You can also see the brown head very well when enlarged. The other type of vulture we evidentally see often around here is a Turkey Vulture with a red head. I'll have to be on the lookout for one of these to photograph, too!
I've never seen one feeding like that. They always fly away when I drive close by with my camera in hand.
ReplyDeleteWhoa! Check out the beak on that sucker! We've been having a lot of problems with vultures in our area. Enough that the county officials are trying to come up with a *remedy.* Not sure what that entails... I'm thinking that if there are a lot of vultures around, there must be a lot of dead bodies laying about, right? Anyway, you are right about how scary they look. HUGE!
ReplyDeleteGreat picture of the one with his head in the armadillo!! So cool! His "knees" are actually really his ankles and so they are bending the right way. Sure does look like knees bending the wrong way though. The knee is actually up under the feathers by the body.
ReplyDeleteThat's pretty cool to get the pictures that you got of them. Thanks for dropping by my blog. Have a great week.
ReplyDeleteDot