Vultures

The hay came in a while back. It was odd to be so cut off from it. (Did ya catch that pun there?) I was stuck with the baby, so not helping with the haying. Our hay crew had a couple of new people this year though, so my work wasn't missed. 

About two thirds was baled in round bales, and the remaining third in square bales. My husband personally threw about 350 square bales from the back of the truck up to the loft of the barn! (If you don't know what that means, or don't know much about hay, you should check out this old post of mine. It's full of useful hay information, as the name implies.) Our barn is now stuffed full of hay! It was a bumper crop since we've had so much rain. Plus, we let our neighbors store some of the hay for their horses in the "lower" barn along with ours for a small fee.

This year there were a lot of turkey vultures on the field as the hay was drying. I imagine that the cutters disturbed some rabbit nests. (We've had a bumper crop of rabbits too.) The vultures "tussled" and hustled about like overgrown chickens, stealing from each other. They returned a few days later after the hay was baled too. Probably the baler picked up some snakes that were staying cool in the windrows. 

We see turkey vultures a lot from our place, but usually they are flying. Today there were seven or eight of them turning slow circles in the sky. They like to ride thermals. When they do, they look much smaller and turn in lazy loops and spirals, teetering now and then and only making a flap or two once in a great while. 

As you saw above, turkey vultures are large, dark birds. The look black from far away, but are actually dark brown with a bald, red head and a pale beak. Much of the underside of their wings is light colored. Speaking of wings, theirs are broad, and they "finger" at the ends. When soaring, these wings make them look like the quintessential painted bird (like a "v".)  They have long tails too. They extend past their feet when they fly. I think the only raptors bigger than turkey vultures are eagles and condors.

As you've probably gathered, turkey vultures are great scavengers. If it weren't for the vultures, the rural roads 'round these parts would be littered with roadkill. Apparently, the hay fields would be littered with carcasses at times too. So I'm thankful for nature's garbage pickers, and I love to see them sliding and swooping through the sky on these sultry summer days.