Back at the state park, a 3km evening hike on a trail that was right behind our campsite. Brilliant lake views (hard to capture in pictures) and as always, excellent wildlife.
Picture 3: Erased something from the picture for privacy.
Picture 4: The picture doesn't capture it, but the vultures are huge IRL. And I bungled the chance to get a closeup of one of the vultures that was pretty close to me. 🥺
We got ourselves in the flow of migrating soaring #Birds yesterday with 12 European Honey #Buzzards, 915 Black #Kites, 79 Booted and 75 Short-toed #Eagles, Black #Storks, Montagu´s and Marsh #Harriers, Egyptian #Vulture and returning Griffon #Vultures !
Meanwhile downtown a gorgeous and unexpected male 𝐂𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐅𝐥𝐲𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐫 joined the migration party! Normally breeding across Eastern Europe it is a welcome vagrant!
(Thanks to #amigo Ricky Owen for news on the Flycatcher!)
Ich weiß, ihr mögt nur Essen oder Vogelbilder. Darum heute kein Hörnchen sondern ein Geier.
Es ist ein kanarischer Schmutzgeier (Neophron percnopterus majorensis). Diese Unterart zieht im Winter nicht Richtung Afrika wie die im Sommer in Spanien anzutreffenden Schmutzgeier (Neophron percnopterus percnopterus). Ich freu mich immer noch diese tollen Vögel hier sehen zu dürfen.
Fotoqualität ist bescheiden, denn die Luft war recht staubig. Aber an dem Ort hab ich sie jetzt 2 Tage hintereinander gesehen und ich bin ja noch über 2 Wochen hier in der Gegend.
Basically, vultures were very important in certain areas to remove cadavers from the area - such as countless cows raised by lacto-vegetarians. ...
An anti-inflammatory medicine was introduced about 3 decades ago to help treat cows (probably helps with milk production).
The substance stuck around in cows who died and were dumped "outside" or "elsewhere", as trash is often dumped.
Vultures ate dead "tainted" cows and also died.
As vultures died, other carrion eating animals came by and feasted, but they were not as nice as the vultures for the ecosystem and for the humans in the area.
Note that vultures often die because of eating poisoned animals, poisoned by humans. Lead, for example, is a common deadly poison left behind by bullets from hunters. Many animals deemed "pests" are poisoned and end up being eaten by a vulture who dies later. That's aside from the various poachers just outright killing vultures.
And the vultures are up early trolling for any business they can make out of other’s misery. I wonder what a successful claimant is left with? Apparently I opted in‘ 🤮
Today is International Vulture Awareness Day. 🖤 🤍 ❤️ 🥰
Not every bird is tiny and cute. Not every bird sings a beautiful song. But we love vultures just the same, including their grunts, hisses, and clacks (they don't have a syrinx, so they can't sing like other birds). Without them, the world would be a messy place with dangerous diseases spreading everywhere. Nature made vultures her cleanup crew and gave them stomach acid with a pH of 1 to destroy things like rabies, anthrax, and botulism. When vultures are killed or die off, feral dogs often take their place, and disease (especially rabies) begins to spread.
Vultures are beautiful birds. They are clean and love to bathe as often as possible and preen after every meal. They mate for life and are wonderful parents. To watch them soar is to see beauty on the wing.
Below is an #IVAD poster created to honor Andy N. Condor, one of the greatest ambassadors for vultures you could ever imagine. He had a long life with many friends, passing away just two weeks ago.
We will miss you, Andy. Soar high on the thermals, look down on us, and keep us safe. 🖤 🤍 🖤 💗 💚 🌈 🌈 🌈