Dumpster Divers On a hot, humid day in July, I was riding my bike, keeping a watchful eye out for birds. I spotted some bird action near a dumpster at the town’s Public Works Facility, a fenced-in block of utility buildings are vehicles beneath the town’s 130- foot-tall water tower. A group of Turkey vultures (Cathartes aura) were sitting on an open dumpster, poking around. Normally, I only see them soaring, never down on the ground inside the town limits. Something must have caught their attention and attracted them, dead fish perhaps. Crows, the other local scavenger species, shared the feast with the vultures. The birds looked sluggish in the midday heat … Crow surveying the site. More crows waited on the water tower. The featherless head of the turkey vulture, covered with bristles, may not be attractive or endearing by human standards, but these birds have a certain majesty about them… Let us praise the noble turkey vulture: no one envies him; he harms nobody; and he contemplates our little world from a most serene and noble height.Edward Abbey Here are related bird posts to visit: Rooftop Eagle (with Black Vulture photos) >>“Grub Hunters” >>Lessons in survival from a one-legged Jay >> Please follow and like: Share this:FacebookXLike this:Like Loading... Post navigation Birds in the Old Burying GroundWinter Look-alikes