Guess Who's Coming for Lunch?

Certainly not a sign of spring but definitely an indication there was some sort of "foul play" afoot, a group of black vultures, not turkey vultures, showed up in my yard the other day with the intention of cleaning up the possum who had met it's fate there after the heavy rains this past week. Black vultures, like turkey vultures, are a protected species here in Virginia and while they are just as ugly, black vultures are a bit smaller than their red-headed cousins.

I discovered one of these buzzards surveying the situation as Tucker and I left for our walk and by the time we returned, eleven of his closest friends had shown up as well. Try as I did, I just could not convince them to all sit together while I took their picture! They were just as wary of me as I was of them.

Seeing the vultures sitting on my roof lent a bit of an Alfred Hitchcock aura to the dreary, wet day. Where is Tippi Hedren when you need her, anyway? They are as creepy as they look and insisted on staying for an hour or so even after I disposed of the poor possum. I think they hung around in disbelief that I actually had removed their "luncheon special" from my yard. They seemed to eye me with a certain amount of disdain.

Protected, yes. Welcomed, no. Move along, fellas. There's nothing of interest here for you anymore.