It’s a Bird! It’s a Plane! It’s...

Many years ago, on one of our trips to Macon from Collinsville in late afternoon, I had an encounter with a couple of very unusual birds. 

It was late April, and the month before, I had been fortunate to spot several owls on some of our drives down to Collinsville.  The trick had been simply to look for odd-shaped lumps stuck up in the bare branches of trees along the roadside.  Now that it was April, it seemed that most of the owls had stopped coming to their nighttime lookouts.  Nesting was over, so there was no need to spend so much time hunting prey for the young owls.  These impressive night birds had headed back to the forest for a few months.

But wait a minute!  There they were: two owls perched in a dead tree about 500 feet from the road.  I asked my mom turn around and go back so I could get a better look at them, which she willingly did.  When we were parked on the side of the road, I picked up my binoculars and got out of the car, fairly certain that even though I couldn’t make out any “ears” from this distance, the birds were most likely Great Horned Owls.  I brought the binoculars to my eyes and focused on the chunky birds, perched side by side on a limb.  I expected to see the majestic silhouettes of two owls.  Instead, the binoculars revealed a couple of lumpy, hunched-over figures with tiny, wrinkled heads.  Well, if these were owls, then they must have crept a little too close to a campfire a long time ago.  The two Black Vultures appeared to be settling in for the night; probably they had dined on the road earlier that day.

I got back into the car, and everyone asked me what species the birds were.  When I answered, we all laughed over it.  What about the birds?  Well, as we left, I think I saw them stretch and fluff their feathers.

If you ever happen to be driving down Highway 45, late in the day, definitely keep your eyes open for birds.  Maybe you’ll be one of those fortunate birders who can draw a group of naturalists together to tell them about your encounter with the rare Great Horned Vultures…

Black Vultures (January 2017, Pearl River WMA)