Buzzards fascinate me. They are the most graceful of the local birds, floating in lazy circles on the thermals over the hills. They're not quite as adept as pedestrians, galumphing along on the ground, even comical. The valley has been socked in with fog for days now, but we, here on a "different planet," have enjoyed the sun, although night temperatures have been in the twenties. It seems that these birds have a welcoming ritual, raising wings in a silent paean to the warmth. Logic tells me that they are just thawing out after a frigid night, but it is so beautiful to see that my imagination imbues the scene with more than it is.
Equally amazing to me is that they let me come so close now. There is no more than eight feet between me and this handsome fellow on the post. While watchful, he waited while I threw flakes of alfalfa down for the girls, and only when I later went through the gate did he swoop off. These are turkey buzzards, but their heads are actually more attractive than the gnarly, bumpy red heads of the turkeys. The huge nostrils allow them to scent carrion more than five miles, I understand. They appear black at a distance, but this close up shows the exquisite pattern of black, tan and bronze.
I love my new camera, so compact and easy to use, but it takes over half an hour to upload one photo, and it sure sets my day back to insert a photo...way back to put in more than one. The download from the camera is almost instantaneous, so I can only think it is a drawback of my computer, but dang, it's frustrating!
