One of the nicer benefits of living in the country is the abundance of wildlife that surrounds us.  (For city dwellers wild life comprises two words and has a different meaning.)  Deer, turkey, fox, raccoon, opossum, just keep your eyes open and you’ll see them all.  And more bird species than you can count on your fingers and toes.  Some of them are very people friendly–like the house finch.  Others are very shy–like the short eared owl.  Turkeys, herons and cranes are very common in this neighborhood.

Sunday afternoon, Sylvia and I walked out of the house and we saw an unusual sight in our neighbor’s back yard.  It was a bald eagle on the ground behind my neighbor’s house.  When the eagle saw us it immediately took to the wing and quickly flew away.  This wasn’t the first or second time that we’ve seen a bald eagle in this neighborhood, but it’s still an awesome sight.  Sad to say, the camera was in the house, so I had to borrow the above image.

The bald eagle is not as large as the golden eagle that I saw a couple of years ago.  Nevertheless, it elicits a special feeling of excitement.

Monday afternoon, I went out to get the mail.  It was too nice a day to walk straight down the driveway to the mailbox.  For that reason, I decided to walk the outer perimeter of our place.  (Makes for a nice walk.)  I walked by the garden to see how the tomatoes, green beans, peppers and squash are growing.  (They are doing very well!)  As I reached the corner of the mowed part near Meghan’s barn, I noticed a turkey vulture flying toward a dead tree.  Again no camera so I borrowed another image.

As soon as my focus shifted from the milkweed that I was looking at to that dead tree, I saw a second vulture already perched in that tree.  The newcomer approached and put his claws on a branch and “crack” the dead branch broke and fell to the ground.  With barely a bobble the latest arrival found solid footing.  I watched for several minutes and then one of the vultures flew away closely followed by the other.

I continued my extra long walk to the mailbox feeling very glad that I took that detour.  Do you ever go out of your way and walk that extra distance?
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