Late this morning I was in the back of the house when my son yelled, "Mom, look out the window!" I hurried the front where the big windows are, and there were 7 or 8 of the vultures on the ground in my yard and several more in the trees. I've never had the opportunity to observe them so closely before and for such a long period of time.

They are remarkably alert birds. No surprise they have keen eye sight. The closest on the ground were probably 40 ft. from the house. When I approached the window with the camera they immediately flew up into the trees. I was still 3 or 4 feet away from the window. A little later I was in a back bedroom with big windows, but with venetian blinds that were down but with open slats, observing, but standing against the opposite wall from the window. They didn't fly up again, but everytime I moved, the two closest birds started, and shifted away a little. I was well behind them at that angle, so they apparently have amazing peripheral vision also.

I had dumped some suet nuggets out of the feeders several days ago that were all clumped together and that is what drew their interest. I noticed several crows shadowing them, drawn by their interest. I always have crows, but these crows were obviously keyed in on opportunistically following the vultures.

Yesterday evening I watched with my neighbor for about 20 minutes as the flock glided in and gathered in the trees behind his house. This morning he told me that just before full dark last night, the entire flock moved for the night to a stand of trees behind his brother's house, about 50 yards away from where they first gathered.

The Eastern Cherokee call Vultures Peace Eagles.