As Gail and Scott motored out the driveway on Monday, I went up the front porch steps, camera still in hand, just as an enormous Turkey Vulture landed in a tree across the road. I managed to get this one shot as he landed.
There have always been a group of eight or so of these birds circling around the valley floor, catching thermals and riding them over our house ever since we moved in, and you see many others all over Roseburg. We thought, in the beginning, they were hawks, and kept dragging Ozzy inside when we spotted them. One day, sitting in the park, this dark shadow passed over us, and thinking it was a hawk out for an Ozzy Snack, we snatched him out of harm's way. This guy at another picnic table nearby looked at us like we were nuts. I said we were trying to protect our wee dog from being eaten by hawks. After he snorted, he said, "Unless your little dog is dead, he'll be okay." Turns out, these were not the fearsome dog-eating hawks, but Turkey Vultures. Carrion eaters only.
However. Shortly after this conversation, our next door neighbor, Patty, mentioned that one day in the early summer, while reading a book on her back deck, she happened to glance up, just in time to see the Big Daddy Hawk with a large house cat in its claws winging off to the eyrie to feed the baby hawks. Total yuck and horror. So, an 8-lb Ozzy would just be a pleasant and tasty hors d'ouevre. I guess, according to Patty, they are particularly...ah...voracious in the spring and early summer when the hawklets need to eat. (Have I already said yuck...??).
At this point, we have only seen them twice. About three weeks ago, these two extremely large birds (close to Bald Eagle size, seriously) were out hunting (screeches and all); we figure it was the parents. Then this morning we saw two smaller ones drifting around the ridge. We're pretty sure it's the little ones...though now..?? Not so little.
Anyway, enough with the wildlife. It was just such a cool photo, and I forgot to include it in my posting yesterday, so there you go.
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