Welcome to Natural Wonders, a place where I wonder about my wanderings and pick up curious facts about the birds and the bees. If you were forwarded this email or stumbled here by accident, feel free to subscribe below: As a road cyclist, I come across a lot of roadkill when I’m out and about. It’s a sad byproduct of the encroachment of humans into animal territory, the carcasses of random skunks/opossums/deer that have tried and failed to cross the Highway of Death.
It always seems both unnatural and incredibly amazing when we get to higher elevation and are allowed the ability to look down and see birds flying from above. Working near the landfill one of my favorite sights are when I see them everywhere. I call it peppering the sky and will watch them fly across in circles. Taking notice of how they still continue to vote as a group on a constant basis to determine which direction they should go.
I love that perspective - "vote as a group"! It makes me think of murmurations, those beautiful movements of enormous flocks of starlings or redwing blackbirds, where they dip and dance and move together like a school of fish. I know vultures don't work quite the same way, but I like the idea of midflight "voting"!
In New Zealand, the swamp harrier can often be found scavenging roadkill. It's not a type of vulture but a bird of prey that both hunts and scavenges. They're something of a traffic hazard on rural roads because of their habit of scavenging roadkill.
It always seems both unnatural and incredibly amazing when we get to higher elevation and are allowed the ability to look down and see birds flying from above. Working near the landfill one of my favorite sights are when I see them everywhere. I call it peppering the sky and will watch them fly across in circles. Taking notice of how they still continue to vote as a group on a constant basis to determine which direction they should go.
I love that perspective - "vote as a group"! It makes me think of murmurations, those beautiful movements of enormous flocks of starlings or redwing blackbirds, where they dip and dance and move together like a school of fish. I know vultures don't work quite the same way, but I like the idea of midflight "voting"!
In New Zealand, the swamp harrier can often be found scavenging roadkill. It's not a type of vulture but a bird of prey that both hunts and scavenges. They're something of a traffic hazard on rural roads because of their habit of scavenging roadkill.
Interesting, that it both scavenges and hunts. Broadening its options, I suppose...