This raptor is the one I see the most. They’ve been pretty good to me this year too, giving me good looks. I find it wild how their stomach acid is as strong as battery acid.
Nature’s garbage collectors. Love these dudes.
They also have an incredible sense of smell. Which I always found weird - I think just because you can see right through their nose.
I was driving in my neighborhood recently when I saw one taking off. I see them wheeling around in the air all of the time, but something about seeing one closer to the ground and not just soaring was different. I had never really realized just how elegant they are as flyers. When soaring, they’re often making minute changes to basically hover, but when the one was taking off, he was really flapping and it was somehow really elegant. I dunno how to describe it. But I have a renewed appreciation for them now.
This used to be the one I see the most, now it’s swapped to black vultures, they form a lot larger groups, really annoying on my tin roof but I have a giant tree with literally hundreds of vultures which can be kind of cool
One of the few birds that relies on smell to find food! Awesome pics.
Mmm that’s some good primary feather action right there. Majestic stuff!
These guys are so cool, I love seeing them!
Amusingly, modern battery “acid” is a base.
Don’t people mean this kind of battery when they say battery acid?
