{"id":497,"date":"2018-09-02T18:34:15","date_gmt":"2018-09-02T18:34:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.megforward.com\/birds\/?p=497"},"modified":"2022-03-31T20:34:18","modified_gmt":"2022-03-31T20:34:18","slug":"dumpster-divers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.megforward.com\/birds\/index.php\/2018\/09\/02\/dumpster-divers\/","title":{"rendered":"Dumpster Divers"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

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<\/em>, a fenced-in block of utility buildings are vehicles beneath the town’s 130- foot-tall water tower.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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A group of Turkey vultures<\/strong> (Cathartes aura)<\/em> 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<\/strong>, the other local scavenger species, shared the feast with the vultures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The birds looked sluggish in the midday heat …<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Crow surveying the site.<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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More crows waited on the water tower.<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The featherless head of the turkey vulture, <\/i><\/b>covered with bristles, may not be attractive or endearing by human standards, but these birds have a certain majesty about them…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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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.<\/em><\/p>Edward Abbey<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

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Here are related bird posts to visit:<\/h4>\n\n\n\n