Mixed flock

Something must have smelled rotten. (That's "delicious" in turkey vulture language.) A half-dozen or so turkey vultures and a pair of eagles were circling, circling, circling over a spot just beyond the trees bordering the highway north.

The highway shoulder where I parked was on the outer edge of their circle.

Cropped photo; the bald red head catches the light when he turns to look me over.

The underside of the wings is a pale grey. Wingspan: up to 70 inches, 178 cm, 1 3/4 metres. Wider than I am tall, by half a foot.

Turkey vultures can glide on the thermals for hours without flapping their wings, steering with those "finger" feathers, open in the first photo above, closed here.

And this I've never seen before: a pair of eagles was circling along with the vultures.

Off in the distance. The eagle is on the far outer edge of their circle.

The eagle is larger than the vultures, but not by much. The wingspan is up to 80 inches. And they do flap their wings as they turn. And even at a distance, the white head and tail are noticeable.

One last photo: a vulture as I mostly saw them, speeding away behind the power lines and trees.

I drove on up to the Sayward Junction and came back about an hour later. There were no vultures or eagles in the sky any more. They must have finally settled in to the feast.

Turkey vulture party

6:40 PM. It was past supper time, but too beautiful an afternoon to waste it cooking. I was driving north on the highway out of Campbell River. Just driving; not going anywhere. And there, in the middle of the southbound lane, a turkey vulture stood. I parked and took photos through the window.

Looking me over; was I going to steal their dinner?

A half-dozen vultures were standing around something in the roadside weeds, while a few more stood guard in a tree and on the overhead wires. When I opened the car door, they all lifted off and moved to a more distant tree.

The underside of the flight feathers is paler than the rest of the bird.

I went over to look at their meal. A young deer; roadkill, rotting, oozing, stinking. Somehow it was difficult to imagine anything eating that. But there they were, a dozen or so big birds, just waiting for me to go away so they could get back to it.

I got back in the car and drove on for 15 minutes, then turned back, hoping to catch the vultures back at the deer. But they were smarter than I; the whole flock was perched in a bare tree behind the roadside alders.

Seven turkey vultures here. The rest were below the tree line.

Turkey Vultures eat carrion, which they find largely by their excellent sense of smell. ... They prefer freshly dead animals, but often have to wait for their meal to soften in order to pierce the skin. They are deft foragers, targeting the softest bits first ... Thankfully for them, vultures appear to have excellent immune systems, happily feasting on carcasses without contracting botulism, anthrax, cholera, or salmonella. (Cornell)

About the stink; driving back, with the window closed, I could smell the rotting carcass a couple of curves before I arrived. I wondered how far away the vultures were when they first sensed it.

All the birds I saw were adults; juveniles have a grey head, while the adults' heads are pink or red.