I was poking around some photos from a couple months ago and ran across a few I had forgotten about. I do that often. Forget, I mean. Hey, I can’t remember everything! Or sometimes anything! Anyway…

My wife and I often go for rides “in the country”  on the weekends. We just hop in the car and go where the forces of the universe take us. We often have no idea where we are, and we like it that way. We see all sorts of cool things on our little travels, the coolest of which almost always happen when I don’t bring my camera.

One day we were tooling down this little two-lane country road when we came around a “bend” (that’s country folks speak for “curve in the road”) and were greeted with a large flock of black vultures having a snack in the pasture just off the road. I practically slammed on the brakes, barely avoiding a case of whiplash, so we could hopefully observe this beautiful act of nature. I mean, it’s not all that often that I get to see a flock of vultures on the ground, especially close enough to photograph in a semi-decent way.

Normally any sudden changes in activity, like a car coming to a complete stop in the road, would spook even the bravest of wild animals. Let’s face it. Wild animals don’t particularly care to be around us humans. And who can blame them really? But these vultures just sat there – eating, playing, and keeping a close eye on us. The males, or I assume it was the males, would have little fights over who would get to eat. You know, the survival of the fittest and all that. It was a beautiful thing to witness. Although after seeing this photo I’m sure some would disagree with me. But hey, this is nature at work. Besides, don’t ya just love it when the waitress brings out that hot slab of grilled meat?

Hi, Kitty!