Christmas Day vultures

Before heading to our friends’ house for Christmas, I went on a quick trip to Coyote Hills hoping for a Christmas miracle involving burrowing owls. You can guess the outcome of THAT expedition. In lieu of owls, I saw a ton of turkey vultures.
vulture-landing

vulture-landing-5

vulture-landing-4

vulture-landing-2

And a Northern harrier.
northern-harrier-hunting

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2 Comments

  1. Jain
    February 4, 2017
    Reply

    And a bonus Harrier! 🙂

    VULTURES
    Mary Oliver

    Like large dark
    lazy
    butterflies they sweep over
    the glades looking
    for death,
    to eat it,
    to make it vanish,
    to make of it the miracle:
    resurrection. No one
    knows how many
    they are who daily
    minister so to the grassy
    miles, no one
    counts how many bodies
    they discover
    and descend to, demonstrating
    each time the earth’s
    appetite, the unending
    waterfalls of change.
    No one,
    moreover,
    wants to ponder it,
    how it will be
    to feel the blood cool,
    shapeliness dissolve.
    Locked into
    the blaze of our own bodies
    we watch them
    wheeling and drifting, we
    honor them and we
    loathe them,
    however wise the doctrine,
    however magnificent the cycles,
    however ultimately sweet
    the huddle of death to fuel
    those powerful wings.

    • February 6, 2017
      Reply

      Lovely poem – thank you for sharing, Jain!

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