This is a turkey vulture. These birds live all around our area and at times, the entire community seems to be hovering near a dead tree. They are not always eating something dead, sometimes they are just perching. They are gorgeous birds, much more graceful than any vulture I've ever seen. Also, they are slightly smaller.
Yesterday Rosie and I were outside and the dog, Molly, was out with us. She had been sleeping when she suddenly jumped up and started nosing around. She picked up something and went to lie down with it. Rosie and I got up and started walking down our path. Molly followed.
We got to the spot where William had burned some stumps (Rosie calls this Daddy's Mess), and Molly went off again in the grass and curled up with her find. I wanted to know what it was so I wandered over to see.
It was an egg. About the size of a duck egg, Molly had it between her feet and she was licking it. I said to Rosie "Oh, Molly found an egg." and of course, Rosie wanted to see.
I picked her up and showed it to her, and told her that sometimes eggs fall out of nests and probably Molly had found one.
Then we went back to Daddy's Mess and stood on the dead stumps. Molly picked up her egg and followed us. She walked up to us and just stood there.
That's when I heard a noise. A tiny chirping noise coming from Molly's mouth. She wasn't eating the egg, like I had first thought, she was bringing it to me. When she had been licking it, she was trying to take care of it, somehow knowing it was a baby. I reached into her mouth and pulled out a little partially hatched bird, most of the egg still around it. It was chirping in its little egg, and kicking a giant foot trying to break out. It was completely unhurt.
Turkey Vultures are protected animals. They only lay two eggs a year and lay them in a nest down in the dirt, sometimes in dead or hollow trees. But always the nest is on the ground or rocks. They don't build a nest, they scratch a little place in the dirt and that's where they raise their young, both parents sharing the task equally.
Rosie and I headed back to the spot where I thought the nest might be. We looked for it, and Molly tried to show us where it was, nosing around near the dead trees where we'd been earlier. She wants to put the baby back in its nest so it isn't lonely, and that's the only right thing to do. Plus, I don't want to have to feed a hatch-ling vulture. Can you imagine having to feed a bird like that?
Rosie looked so surprised when I emerged from my room on Saturday. She didn't know I'd gotten home, and the look on her face was pure delight. She was so afraid I would disappear again, she ran to her Momma shouting, "Come quick, come quick, look, hurry, hurry, Nana's home."
Yesterday Rosie and I were outside and the dog, Molly, was out with us. She had been sleeping when she suddenly jumped up and started nosing around. She picked up something and went to lie down with it. Rosie and I got up and started walking down our path. Molly followed.
