Creature Discomforts - part 2

The Turkey Vulture

5” x 7” multi-media original illustration on smooth, heavy weight acid free Canson sheet.

Until recently, I’ve been a city dweller, deep into a career that would call on observing the fashion wildlife in a human environment. I quickly discovered that country life and the real wildlife around me would amaze me equally, if not more. Another of my creature discomforts is the Turkey Vulture. Not so much a single one, but a kettle of twelve or more circling above my house. I used to worry about my foster puppies playing in the backyard, but little did I know that Turkey Vultures are not hunters, they prefer dead things, preferably dead herbivores. They are closer to the stork family of birds than they are to birds of prey. None the less, I find that seeing one picking at a road kill while driving on a country road is something straight out of a zombie movie. With its skull-like featherless head, he’s perfectly designed to clean up the mess. Pretty awesome if you ask me, but like my other creature discomforts, I keep my distance.

A wealth of information on the Turkey Vulture can be found at

the Turkey Vulture Society website.