Vultures, vultures everywhere (presumably)
In that old paradoxical way, the more you know, the stupider you become. Before, I could look at these birds and with the confidence of the ignorant pronounce with absolute certainty: “Vulture,” or if I was especially audacious, “turkey vulture.” But now, having poured over who knows how many avian field guides and memorized various field marks and flight behaviors (viz., “Soars with wings in dihedral [shallow V]; rocks and tilts unsteadily.”), I find the application somewhat daunting and leaves me not unlike a bird spotting buraidin’s ass, torn between two equally delicious looking identifications. So, now, when I see a bird soaring, which is more often now that I’m constantly on the look out, I’m often reduced to saying, Yeap, that’s not a sparrow. And maybe that’s the joy of it all.
Even now I’m not entirely sure this is a turkey vulture. But this is as close as my camera would let me get, initially. Hawk? Black vulture? Turkey Vulture?
Luckily for my millennial craving for resolution, I was able to edit and crop and zoom in with this picture enough to see his red head and, hopefully, put to rest any doubt that he is, in fact, a turkey vulture.
Bonus: In what is quickly becoming a personal favorite, an eastern kingbird.