Kickass and vultures and coronavirus

Kickass, the doorstop dog, ever supportive of the keeper’s inclination to make something of nothing, joins him in his—the keeper’s discovery that carrion-eating turkey vultures are obviously attempting to displace the eagle in its exalted role as the great bird of honor and commercialization in the Sauk Prairie area.   The Wisconsin River dam at Prairie is a seasonal gathering place for eagles in the winter and White Pelicans during spring migration, but a recent check by the keeper and Phyllis found the usual rock bar below the dam was occupied by several dozen vultures.  They appeared to be fishing, and there seemed to be an air of some hesitancy as the big birds—70-inch wingspan, stood about and hopped here and there in no apparent order.  The keeper speculated that the vultures were experiencing an identity crisis in territory commonly occupied by eagles or pelicans.

In his cursory research, the keeper found that wildlife authorities say the vultures may help control disease by devouring the expired victims of epidemics and viruses.  Could this possibly explain the keeper’s sense that his recent repeated sightings of vultures means that they are eyeballing him as a dinner prospect as part of their role in cleaning up after the coronavirus?

This kind of thinking is easily misconstrued and so the keeper did not share it with Phyllis who was busy photographing a tree fungus.