Ruins Vultures
Spending time at Mesa Verde watching the Turkey Vultures
Turkey Vulture and ruin
I went up to Mesa Verde this past weekend to hang around on the cliff tops. It was good to see that the Turkey Vultures are back again. The skies feel empty when they are gone.
It was a windy, overcast day, with strange light. It was the first day of a Montezuma County fire ban, so there was still smoke in the air from yesterday’s last-minute rush to burn farm fields. I had to use much lower shutter speeds than I usually prefer, but it gave the light a strange quality that was pretty cool.
Turkey Vulture perched on a rock ledge
They like to roost in the trees and on the rock ledges around the Spruce Tree House ruins, near the Park’s museum.
Turkey Vulture and ruins
Until the day warms up and generates enough thermals for easy flying, the Vultures lumber up and down the canyon like feathered airliners.
Turkey Vulture fidgeting on a cliff ledge after landing. Waiting for thermals.