So, this morning, my Aunt Annie came over from Richmond to help around the farm and keep me company for a bit. Paige went to California on Sunday for what was supposed to be a three day trip, but the crazy weather in D.C. kept her from getting home. (She had to re-book her flight for Sunday night.)
Annie helped me clean out the fridge and freezer in the house and the big deep freezer in the garage. Since we were without power from Friday till Tuesday, absolutely everything had to to go. And in my house, everything is a lot. Like 6 pounds of butter and four pounds of bacon a lot.
Before we took everything out though, I called the garbage pick-up company to make sure they were coming. I really didn’t want to put 30 pounds of spoiled meat out by the curb if they weren’t coming, but the woman who answered the phone insisted that I must put the garbage out today, even if garbage collection was running a day and a half behind due to the weather, because they might catch up today.
I was typically skeptical and I repeated that I was going to be throwing the entire contents of my refrigerator and freezer out and I could easily just throw everything back in the deep freezer till next week if necessary or even take it to the land fill. But the woman insisted that it would be fine. “Just put it out. We know what we’re doing,” she said.
And put it out I did.
It was about an hour later when Annie looked out the window and said, “That’s the biggest bird I’ve ever seen! Oh my God! There are dozens of them!”
In fact, it was more than dozens. More like hundreds.
Hundreds of vultures.
That’s right. Vultures.
Hundreds of vultures in my front yard.
Eating my garbage.
For those of you city folks that have never seen a vulture up close and personal, I’d like to point out that these birds are about four times the size of Gulliver, my chihuahua.
And, no, the garbage truck did not pick up my trash today.
But you and I both knew that wasn’t going to happen, didn’t we?
{ 38 comments… read them below or add one }
OH. MY. GOD!
THANK YOU! That’s exactly how I felt.
I simply cannot believe THAT many of them showed up. What? Do they live across the street, or something? I mean, one or two, okay, but … a whole flock?
Aren’t vultures the worst? Predatory and ugly and somehow evil and HUGE! It figures the pickup didn’t come!
And your pics are like that Hitchcock movie on steroids!
But you’ve been ushered into the Vulture Hall of Fame and named Benefactor of the Year. Down the road this might be just the cache you need. It could happen. Maybe some situation with lawyers or something.
Wait till you see them sunning on a roof somewhere–it’s kind of creepy to see these birds with their wings stretched out, just crouching.
Honestly, I felt kind of bad about all that wasted meat, so at least someone got to eat it. Circle of life and all that.
They are also kind of smelly.
That last one is kind handsome in a weird way.
So–if it snows a lot and is really cold, and the power goes out, would it ever work to put the frozen food out in the snow until the power comes back on?
Unfortunately, all the stuff we moved outside was in a sunny spot on the porch and didn’t stay frozen.
As ugly and yucky as vultures appear, I would’ve been tempted to lay out the meat for them, but then, they’ll follow it to the landfill and take care of nature there.
I actually got to meet some vultures up close and personal, they’re actually quite sweet and have no interest in you if you’re not dead and rotting.
I can totally understand how that would still be pretty freaky though. I used to live by some train tracks, and there were always small dead animals and lots of vultures around to eat them. They kinda grow on you…
How funny….. :0)
Oh my what a story and the pictures are just the best. Like Hitchcock…
Love the comments too….
I’m impressed.
They are smart enough to know how to open the lid to the trash can!
Are you sure that was the “garbage pick-up company”?
Or was it the VNF; Vulture Nutrition Front!?!!!!!!!!
QQ
Wow… that’s wicked cool!
Awwwww, they are hungry, could you not unwrap some of the meat etc. and put it somewhere safe for them to eat. I know I have know idea about vultures but it would seem that they must be so hungry at the moment, along with other animals, in the snow. They could eat the spoiled food and get rid of it for you.
I would have left out the meat for them to eat. Vultures do society a favor by eating decomposing carcasses–all your trash will do is take up space in a landfill.
Oh, and you didn’t need to toss your butter. It doesn’t spoil.
As soon as you said the rubbish company “might” come, I thought, “Noooo!! Take it to the landfill!” Rotting food and torn-up packaging. Ew.
For all their freak-out factor – especially in such numbers! Wow! – Turkey Vultures play a critical role in our ecosystem.
That said, I think you’ve gotten a valuable (if creepy) heads-up in terms of vulnerable livestock such as injured or newborn lambs/goats. A horrible thought, but better to be forewarned, right?
as un-nerving as vultures are to see, it’s true – they gotta eat too. We should be thankful for them as they are natures undertakers, and who would want to deal with that? Still – every time a hawk tries to swoop one of my chickens, I try to offer a frozen, already dead one, and they aren’t interested. Ah, farming
OMIGOD is right! Uh, I think it’s the Vultures who know what they are doing!! Who knew there were
Vultures in Va? Learned something new.
Maybe the trash pick up folks sent the Vultures?
Naw, I don’t think so. What a story..and PICTURES!! You should tell this tale to the Washington Post!
LOL… should we all call the phone number on your trash can and tell them to get on the stick?
Sus!!! You should have been feeding that stuff to the chickens all week!!
We got invaded by a giant flock of crows once when we were camping…tore open all our food and we had barely anything left after they had been at it for an hour.
Moral of the story: Don’t believe everything you are told by your trash removal provider.
Well now THAT gives new meaning to feeding the birds in the winter. Kinda cool though
You’re living in a Hitchcock movie!!
Ugh, ugh, ugh! Gross!
Thank you for one of the best laughs I’ve had this week!
Murphy’s Law! Funny you should post about vultures…on the eve of this past Halloween, my husband and I were backing out of our driveway, headed to NY. I happened to glance at the top of my chimney and there was the biggest vulture I had ever seen. We looked at each other and hoped it was not a bad omen….they are very spooky looking up close!
I sure hope now that you know there are so many vultures in your area just waiting for a meal that you aren’t ever leaving poor little Gulliver outside by himself.
I once saw a turkey vulture up here — its head is very red — aren’t they the ugliest? Even if they do serve a purpose……
I’m clearly an outlyer on this one, but I love those guys. We have Turkey vultures here, but I think yours are black vultures. I just think they’re so cool, and beautiful when they’re soaring around & surfing the air currents . . . Anyway, who else is going to clean up all the dead skunks and possums from the roads? (You’ve got to be grateful for somebody who will do that job happily, right?)
WOW! What GORGEOUS Birds!!! Especially the second to last photo with its wings outstretched. You know, India has lost most of its vultures. Apparently there was a drug being given to cattle that was highly toxic to vultures and by the time they figured this out, the vultures were nearly gone and there have been all sorts of serious environmental consequences. How lucky you are to be able to see wildlife every day (all the same, I think I’d keep Gulliver on a leash when he goes out if I were you…..)
Note: Vultures do not eat live animals. nor do they kill animals to eat when they are dead Gulliver is safe from vultures.
My electric company told me that as long as I didn’t open the freezers, the stuff in it would be alright for up to 4 days. Besides not opening them, they advise that you wrap the fridge and uprights in blankets, to help them stay cold longer.
…a moot point, since we were without utilities for 8 days!
Here in VA, you can request reimbursement for foodstuff lost due to an outage from your company–if the outage was their fault. Of course you know this one wasn’t; it fell under the *act of God* category.
Great…..now you have all that vulture poop to compost….
I live in NW Indiana, and we have a lot of turkey vultures. In the spring, when they’re nesting, amazing things happen. We often have that moment of “oh look, there’s a vulture in that tree.”… and then you look closer and realize there are 40 vultures in the tree. They’re amazing birds, and with the death of most predators out here (except for coyotes, which we still have), I’m kind of glad for the vultures in a whole “circle of life” kind of way.
Ha ha! Welcome to Fluvanna county!!!!!!!!
whoa. i’ve only seen them that clearly through binoculars. they’re such grim, ugly creatures.