My grandfather told me "It's an ill wind that blows no good" And that concept appears to be true with the vultures migrating into this area each spring.
This year's drought has provided them with a feast. With ponds and streams drying up, the vultures have been enjoying a regular smorgasbord with the dead fish to supplement their normal road kill diet.
Officially vultures are an endangered species but judging from the number of birds I've been seeing this year, they certainly aren't on the local endangered species list.
Vultures are nature's vacuum cleaner. They dispose of dead animal carcasses and hold down the spread of disease. In India dead cows are often left in the field to rot. Vultures traditionally ate the cow carcasses, but in the 1990s the cows were treated with a popular drug that when ingested by the vultures, the drug killed the vultures.
More than 98 percent of the vulture population died. Without vultures cleaning up the dead carcasses, the feral dog population exploded. Along with the dogs came rabies, anthrax and the plague. India spent $14 billon combating the massive rabies epidemic.
In the United States vultures are federally protected by the Migratory Bird Treaty Act.
On the weekend I was asked by a former college instructor what is the proper name for a group of vultures.
I didn't know so I referred the question to Google.
I learned a group of vultures can have several names.
In flight a flock of vultures is called a kettle.
When the birds are feeding together at a carcass, the group is called a wake. When roosting they can be called a committee, volt or venue.
So, in my Sunday travel about the area, I saw a vulture wake, a vulture committee, a vulture volt, a vulture venue and vulture kettle.
I didn't think I went far but some may say I saw lots of vultures.
I'm sorry Google didn't define the differences between a committee, volt or venue.
From my little bit of investigation in the vulture question, I've concluded Google doesn't know everything. I suspect the proper use of committee, volt or venue is tied to where the vultures are resting.
One source I checked said committee is the proper way to describe vultures resting on the ground or in trees. Another source said group was the proper term.
So I kept on searching and got even more confused.
I found one source listed the following ways to describe a flock of vultures: a cast of vultures, a colony of vulture, a congregation of vultures, a family of vultures, a looming of vultures, a meal of vultures, a pair of vultures, a rookery of vultures, a rout of vultures, a soar of vultures, a solitary of vultures, a volume of vultures, a vortex of vultures and a volt of vultures.
The more I searched the more confused I became.
If you figure it out, let me know. In the meantime I have other things to do.
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