Mother Nature at It's Finest...

or not so much. I came home the other night to find 20+ slimy creepy crawly slugs on our sidewalk. They ranged in size from one inch to 5 inches long. They were everywhere! It was dark out and once my headlights beamed upon them, they scattered before I could get my camera. So, I took a pic of one that was left near the doorway.

Then, yesterday, Jason noticed a rather large bird in the backyard. When I went to look, I couldn't believe how big it was. It was a couple hundred feet away, and I couldn't tell what it was. I decided to venture outside, with my camera in tow of course, and got close enough to get a decent shot. Once I was closer I figured out that it was a vulture. I guess I scared it and it took off in flight then began to circle around above me. I'll admit, I thought it was going to dive down at me any moment. So I came inside and showed the pictures to Jason. He thought it was a turkey buzzard. I googled it and indeed it was...we were both correct. It was a turkey vulture, often incorrectly called a turkey buzzard. Buzzards are part of the hawk family though. Come to find out, the turkey vulture is a gentle creature that can soar for up to 6 miles without flapping it's wings even once. It can have a wingspan of 6 feet! It feeds on carcasses, insects, and some plants and foilage. It can dive down upon prey at speeds of 60 mph...thank goodness it didn't see me as it's next meal. haha I doubt that would have happened anyway-they don't feed on live animals. Jason saw six of them at one point and there were still a couple lingering this morning. I wonder if something died near the bike path and why there were so many out there.

It may be hard to see, but it was in flight-it's just below the power lines. Look at it's wingspan in comparison to the van driving by.