Large Birds

I was walking home from the bus stop and saw, as a car drove down the street, some very big birds taking off from the edge of the street and flying up to or through a large tree on the other side of the street. I'm not talking about little chickadees or robins or even grackles, but something hawk-like, eagle-like.

I continued walking past my usual turn-off to get a closer look. (I also put on my glasses.) Well, the first thing I got a closer look at was a carcass. If you don't want any details about the carcass, skip the rest of this paragraph. So the first thing I noticed is all the ribs of a large animal. It was the size of a cat or maybe a large raccoon. And let's just say that most of was already gone. I also noticed an awful lot of flies on it.

I couldn't find the birds in the big tree across the street. I waited, but the birds did not return to their meal. I started backing away and then saw, through a break in the trees, a bird atop a telephone pole. A large bird, maybe two feet long from beak to tail feather and as big around as the pole. It was all black except for it's tiny dark grey head. At one point, it was looking right at me. I backed away to explain that it safe to come back to dinner, and leaves got in the way so I could no longer see the bird.

I kept seeing movement in the tree, but never spotted a bird there. Later I saw one bird and then another flying in circles, mostly gliding, but sometimes flapping wings. I feel like there might have been three or more birds, but I never was sure of seeing more than two at once.

Then Robin drove down the street on his way home and gave me a lift. I guess the birds were vultures. Not five miles from skyscrapers.