buzzards...

I just got around to unloading some photos from my camera. I try to do so about once a week. I mainly did it today because I wanted to see what Sassy photographed the other day while she was at Mamaws house. Well as I was looking at the photos…I realized I had taken some photos of a flock of buzzards soaring through the air.

Buzzards fascinate me…. well kinda! A few years ago…I was driving to town and seen a mess of these ugly birds on the road. I slowed up a little not for the birds but for the bumpy train track coming up. I figured these birds would fly away like they always do. I slowed down enough to give the birds some time to go to the side of the road…I knew that as soon as I passed they would be right back on the roadkill they were feasting on. Well let me tell ya…most all the birds flew to the side of the road BUT one! It decided it wanted to be on the other side of the road…it didn’t follow the flock…. as this rebel bird took off flying  (not fast enough) I had it with the pick-up! OH YEAH! I had hit it…this dang bird didn’t hit the grill or the bumper…it had hit right in front of me on the driver side of the windshield! I am telling ya there ain’t nothing like seeing a BIG bird coming at ya …I closed my eyes (I know a bad thang to do when you are driving) ducked my head and hit the brakes hard. OMG you should have seen themes on the windshield. I didn’t kill the buzzard…it had to have flown off. I didn’t see it anywhere around or the rest of them.

I put my foot on the gas pedal and moseyed on to town. I called my Honey on the cell phone…”You ain’t never gonna guess what just happened to me!” He tried guessing and was wrong…I told him what happened…I even told him that I didn’t see the bird anywhere and that it must’ve flown off. He laughed and laughed…then popped off with…”you don’t think it could be in the bed of the truck? DO YA?”

Now mind you I am already shaking from my traumatic experience…I don’t want to even imagine a dang ol’ bird dying in the back of my truck on the way to Wallyworld. I couldn’t see in the bed of the truck…we had Dodge quad cab at the time…I couldn’t just look in the mirrors and see…I didn’t want to stop on the side of the road either and look. So the WHOLE drive to Wal-mart, I was paranoid that there was a dying bird in my truck. I got to Wal-mart and thank goodness there WASN’T a bird there. I would have died if there were. My honey still thinks its funny...often when we pass a flock of them he will ask me if any of them are my friends.

The mess the bird left on the windshield stayed caked on for a good bit…I don’t wash my vehicles. It’s easier to pay someone else and quicker. I took the truck to Goo-Goo carwash and the kid there did a really good job. He did say some of the stuff was hard to get off and he had to use a scraper to get it off. I laughed and said thank you…I told him that it was buzzard crap and that I had hit one. EWWWWWW!

Like I said I am kinda fascinated by them…I wished I had had my camera on a different day though. About a ½ mile from where I hit the one…there were about 100 of them…NO KIDDING. There is this house that had an OLD ford truck out front for sale and some other odds and ends. This yard and truck was covered in buzzards. It would have made for an interesting photo.

Well the other day, Sassy and me were headed to Mamaws and above us there were a bunch circling above us. I grabbed the camera out of the Durango and snapped a few photos. I would love to have a lens that zoomed in better but I think I did decent considering they were on the move…