vultures.....

ok, so....we have witnessed an alarming visitation of turkey vultures in our neighborhood this spring.... as many as 8 at a time can be seen perched on the dead tree across the creek...or in a well-branched tree at the end of the circle on the main road....they circle above, and sometimes get as close as the tree by the deck....i was reading middlesex this afternoon, sipping ice water...when one briefly perched not 20 feet from me...vultures are decidedly ugly birds......one doesn't quite appreciate just how so until one is that close.....no idea why they have remained..i do check on the cat's whereabouts just in case when they come too close to the house.......at one point we wondered if they were migrating north to such buzzard towns as hinckley, ohio....which celebrates their return every year......bur for now our local flock is staying put...