As I drove home this morning from dropping the kids at school I noticed a recently deceased squirrel in the street beside a neighbor's house. I intended to go scoop it up and leave it in the wooded area where it could be recycled without being ground into the pavement first. I parked, went into the house for a little while, then headed across the street to the neighbor to give them some peppers from the garden before retreiving the squirrel. The startling motion of a turkey vulture launching himself from the street caught my attention. My neighbor and I stood transfixed as he circled when disturbed by occasional passing vehicles, then settled back down to dine al fresco on squirrel tartar.

The fact that our city homes are surrounded by a couple of hundred acres of woods and prairie had a lot to do with this bird finding this squirrel. I mourn the day soon when those woods are torn down in the name of "progress" and 450 homes are built in their place. No room for vultures in that formula.

SRS