Our New Neighbor

Early in December I wrote about our friend the Hawk who had taken up residence somewhere near our home. This majestic bird has been absent in recent weeks for some reason. More than likely he or she has drifted further south for warmer temperatures and perhaps an opportunity to meet another single hawk to be his/her mate. Our hope is that our friend finds the perfect spouse to make babies with and move to our wonderfully pleasant area and settle down. After all, living next to a dormant farm has it's share of food sources such as snakes, rats, squirrels, and chipmunks.

Saturday morning our far-from-being-the-perfect-dog, Balloo, began barking and howling. We were beginning our day which means much attention to Ben while showering and bathing for the rest of us. I insist that my pre-teen daughter have at least one bath per week now which usually occurs on said day. It is not my place to discuss mine and Joan's sanitary habits but we do at least shower on weekends.

Our dog is definitely weird since we had adopted him but barking has never been a problem. We theorized that one of our neighbors had a new puppy or some such nonsense. Yet as we dried our hair and preened our fat bodies our dog continued his protests. Balloo was going nuts, obviously standing on our deck next to our kitchen. We took a gander out the windows toward our driveway. Nothing.

So I checked out the situation outside my office window which over looks the backyard. I was shocked to see this huge bird lift off our pool fence toward our house, veer west and disappear over our bonus room. My first thought was that this huge beast must be an eagle. I'm guessing the wingspan must be five to six feet across.

I yell to Jessie to join me in the front yard. As we stood in towels and what ever else we could find to cover up (we do this to be polite to the neighbors...usually) the two of us watched this "majestic" creature soar above the tree lines near our home. Me, being the resident birdwatcher did some research over the weekend. Bald Eagles are common near our coast. Golden Eagles are known to make the nearby Appalachian mountains home but rarely are seen in cosmopolitan areas. This left only one other possible culprit: vulture.

Yesterday as me and Jessie walked home from school we saw The Beast circle and land someplace on our neighbor's property. I made sure Jessie was inside and I ventured out to see the Creature roosting in a nearby tree. As I got near it the Thing hissed at me! I watched in amazement at what this weird thing will do to let other creatures know that "I'm pissed so don't bother me!"

If you are at all interested you can learn all you need to know about Turkey Vultures from that link. I'm sure that roadkill is labeled as something called "carrion" but in my book roadkill is roadkill. I just want the Devil Incarnate gone!

Anyway this all makes me freak out in a sense. We have hawks which we associate as God hanging out. They leave and now we have vultures. I can honestly say that we are having one helluva time right now. Can you tell me how you'd get rid of it?