A CONUNDRUM

Hmmm....one of 6 that we have seen hanging around.  Not sure where mom is - they are pretty little.  This one was enjoying a nap in the barn cat food pan before I woke him/her up then it decided it was lunchtime and proceeded to eat the cat food.  I tend to REALLY, REALLY hate racoons - they have eaten many of my chickens - ripping their heads off, killed 3 grown turkey hens and did away with, I don't know how many, baby barn kittens.  A conundrum for sure.

TURKEY VULTURES

There is a deer carcass on the other side of the far buck & pole fence.  I'm not sure what happened to it - the highway is just up the hill and it may have been hit and made it that far before succumbing to injuries.  Mother Nature is working hard to take care of it.  We counted 27 turkey vultures having a feast.  I found out some interesting facts that I didn't know before thanks to the internet:

The turkey vulture is a gentle and non aggressive bird.  Like storks, the turkey vulture defecates on its own legs using evaporation of the water in the feces and urine to cool itself down.  They excrete a high concentration of uric acid that acts as a sanitizer that kills any bacterial it picks up while getting its food. It gets its name because of its red bald head that resembles the male wild turkey.    Its head is small in proportion to its body.  This vulture's head is bald because it often sticks its head into a carcass to reach its meat.  If it had a feathery head, it would capture unwanted pieces of the meal as well as bacteria.   Adults are about 30 inches long, weigh around two pounds and has a wing span of six feet.