Happened across a blog posting from a guy who visited Pleasanton Ridge Park the other day and had this to say about vultures:

These ubiquitous birds are pretty amazing: They feed primarily on a wide variety of carrion, from small mammals to large grazers, preferring those recently dead, but may also feed on plant matter, shoreline vegetation, pumpkin and other crops, live insects and other invertebrates . They prefer the meat of herbivorous animals to that of dogs and other carnivores. Turkey Vultures can often be seen along roadsides cleaning up roadkill, or near rivers feasting on washed-up fish, another of their favorite foods. They really have some interesting stuff going on. Get this: their main form of defense, other than just flying away, is to vomit when attacked. The smell from the undigested food deters most predators. To cool off, they will defecate on their own legs. As the liquid evaporates, it cools, similar to the reason that we humans sweat when hot. And, as mean/ugly as these guys are, they are gentle and timid birds.

My vulture story: One morning I was hiking at Ed Levin County Park and noticed a rather large vulture along the trail; he flew away as I got closer. Then I rounded a curve near a fence and there was the vulture, on the fence post, with his wings fully extended, flapping about in the breeze. I figured this had to be an omen, and considering the species, it could not be a good one.

As it turned out I met a birdwatcher on that very same hike who assured me that vultures take on a lot of condensation overnight (just like your tent), so they do the wing-waving thing to dry out. Oh, cool, a rational explanation. So much for the omen.

Later that day my car sprung a coolant leak that cost $800 to fix

Speaking of vultures, here’s a guy who says he laid himself flat on the ground with a camera to see if one would come for a closer look.