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Where We Left Off:
An unusual case presented when one of the fawns directed us to the frozen body of the northern short-tailed shrew, Mr. Chu.
Three Days of the Condor:
Oliver Winchester entered from the master staircase and laid down amongst all the toys and catnip debris. The cats’ cardboard office has suffered some damage from a Gus cyclone of zoomies which left one pillar dislodged, carpet in disarray, and the prominent sign of services knocked right off the front of the building. I am far too busy to contend with hot glue, therefore, the repairs have not begun.
“Auntie, I think we need to address a little more yoga philosophy into our cases.” Ollie only calls me Auntie when he wants something. “Saucha, the jewel of purification and cleanliness. We’re not very good practitioners of it here.”
“We have a slight hoarding problem, yes. And also have a lack of financial resources to fix all the things wrong with this old house, but we’re not living in squalor. We talk about the benefits of the fresh air, being in nature, and the damages of noise pollution. What were you thinking about?” I wrapped my thrifted black shawl around myself and joined him on the floor.
“It’s about the vultures,” he said. “You do remember when Gus chased one out of the yard, don’t you?”
“Of course I do! I wanted them to become friends, but I was still proud of your cousin for guarding the estate. The bird eventually came back and took the small corpse it targeted after we returned home.” It honestly was one of my highlights with Gus on adventure.
It turns out during research for this case file that we learned vultures are exceptionally clean animals! They groom, bathe, and preen each other all the time. When vultures spread their wings, it’s not always a defensive or even offensive behavior. They spread their wings so that the UV rays of the sun can clean them!
Gus had heard his name and joined us leaving his nest of blankets on the futon in his room. As we were speaking about yoga, the sleepy-eyed black feline stretched his back legs behind him (“up dog”) then bowed to stretch his arms with his butt in the air (“downward facing dog”). He had to go over and sniff Oliver—it’s a compulsion or maybe necessary to see if it truly is Ollie and not the demon that comes forth on occasion through him. It really was Oliver so Gus was rewarded with a soft tap to the head by one of Ollie’s white mittened paws.
“What are you getting at, Oliver?” Gus walked by me to sit on his yoga mat which happens to be where his treat game dispenser is located. He spun the tubes, but they were devoid of chicken.
“It’s about the VULTURES,” Ollie yelled which is does well.
Personally, I think the black vultures are gorgeous birds. They have better eyesight than turkey vultures, but the turkey vultures can smell food from a couple miles away. The black vultures have learned to socialize and follow the turkey vultures. I’ve witnessed them eating and perching together.
Facts & Folklore About Vultures
Oliver wanted to let our readers know some of the facts about these important birds. In mid-December 2024, the largest wake of vultures we’ve ever seen visited the Northern Forbidden Forest. I personally witnessed them two times. They would circle and swoop by the cemetery. One afternoon, I drove over there expecting to find a deer carcass, but I saw nothing of the sort. That doesn’t mean there isn’t one down the steep slopes that are too challenging for me to explore.
Some humans get disgusted by the sight of vultures or buzzards dining on dead things, but this is an important way to clean the environment. There are plenty of other living creatures that help out in this too. Other humans are downright afraid of vultures equating them as harbingers of death, especially if one lands on the roof of a house. The truth is, these birds almost never kill. They eat carrion—things that are already dead. It helps eliminate the odor of roadkill much more quickly than if the bodies had to decay without intervention. Do you remember when I tried to have a body farm in order to keep the scavengers from dragging carcasses all around the neighborhood so I could keep the bones for studying?
The Winchester-Nabu Detective Agency is located on the occupied land of the Lenni Lenape and they have a great story about why the Turkey Vulture is a hero and friend.
While we’re at it, ’tis the season for people who believe in Virgin Births. Scientists discovered that a (kind of adopted because they’re not actually related but sometimes names are used interchangeably in North America 1) relative to our vultures, the much larger condor, has been able to reproduce without male involvement! So can turkeys!
Scientists investigating the genetics of the California condor found two chicks were unrelated to any potential father even though their mothers had been housed with males.
This process, known as parthenogenesis, is relatively rare in birds but is more common in other parts of the animal kingdom, such as in reptiles.
Why is There a Huge Wake of Vultures Around the Estate?
It had been too cold for Oliver to ask his Butler to take one of the longer walks around the neighborhood and head towards the cemetery. I drove by instead and as I said, I didn’t find a dead animal in plain sight.
This is definitely the kind of mystery best not discussed with The Cook as she will allow superstitions about bad omens and death send her into (even more) panic. The family is having a whole bushel of health problems and we don’t need to think supernatural forces are also against us.
I also did a check of the local obituaries to see if the vultures were present as someone new was being buried. I couldn’t turn up anything from that. I went to FindAGrave and searched all the close cemeteries for burials in 2024 and struck out completely. No one has been interred in the closest one to us since 2022. Maybe that’s a good sign more people are opting for eco-friendly funerary arrangements?
No one has witnessed any of the vultures landing on our roof. They do land on the roof where the raccoons live: Big Baby Pudding-Snatcher, Diamond Doris, Little King Trashmouth and his husband Gary. There are two floors so the genders will normally live separately. I’m not sure about Hans Grabber or El Diablo. They may live there too or in one of the abandoned vehicles behind the building.
Could this possibly be an omen of death about one of the raccoons? I hope not. We just had a tragic case about them!
Case Findings
We have learned a lot about vultures and their sort of not really related cousins, buzzards. The cats and I are keeping The Cook in the dark about this strange series of visits. While vultures do fly over us every single day, this massive wake of vultures perched together was something peculiar for the backyard and the Northern Forbidden Forest.
Case Status: Open
Humans are Awful:
There’s a video from YouTube all about vultures and condors from around the world. It is graphic. However, from mark 7:32 to 8:51 , the presenters point out more ways that these scavengers are vital assets to a healthy environment. Without them, other animal populations escalated and there were increases in rabies transmissions. There’s also the cases in Africa where vultures are indeed harbingers of death, but not as bad omens—their presence leads game wardens to the locations of elephants who have been poached and there’s a chance to catch the poachers. Heroes once again!
Footnotes:
- In North America, a lot of people consider the buzzards and vultures to be in the same family or related. In the taxonomy, buzzards are buteos like some hawks; vultures are cathartidae and many are endangered. Lead poisoning from eating the carrion of animals shot by hunters using lead shot and poisons like DDT are why condors and vultures need protection. There’s even a brutally horrific practice by humans of making condors fight bulls! WARNING the video shows this but it’s worth the education. Habitat loss is yet another massive cause.