Those darn Turkey Vultures!!!

     Today I didn't get to see George all that often.  He was a busy bird this morning!!!  It was funny though.  I had my farrier come over because my horse Lacey lost both of her front shoes.  Normally it wouldn't be a problem, but Lacey has Navicular and can't go without her shoes.

So while I was tending to my horse and the farrier, Kathy came up to me and said, "Your boyfriend is here." rolling her eyeballs at me.  So since Deegan was already next to me I knew she was talking about George.  I just grinned!!!  Then throughout the little over an hour my farrier was there George would fly around and around the barn.  I could hear his wings in the air.  He is so noisy!  I love it!!!  Kathy kept saying, "You better go feed him."  I just shrugged.  "He can wait. He isn't starving."  Besides if I dropped everything right then and there who would be training who around there.  So I stood my ground and didn't feed him.  I had some goodies for him today.  Things that he just loves.  After my farrier left I went to the truck and got out the goodies I had brought from home.  I had one raw pork chop and one raw piece of chicken with some plain spaghetti noodles and I added some suet and two eggs to his breakfast.

He wasn't far from the farm this morning and it didn't take him long to get over to his feeding station.  I called to him and I could see him flying in circles over the median about a quarter a mile away.  I figure something had gotten hit.  He was circling pretty good.  Then after I called to him a second time he looked over at me and Rawrk, Rawrk!  As if to say, "Yeah Yeah I heard you the first time."  So shaking my head I went into the house to see what else Kathy needed done.  

She then informed me that I needed to put a couple of new tires in her little lawn tractor cart.  So I grabbed my camera just in case and I took some awesome photos this morning.  George even made an appearance finally.  It was really hot today and he had been doing a lot of flying around. Here are some of the photos I took of him today.

Just so you know.  The middle one won an Outstanding Creativity Award from viewbug.com this afternoon!!!  I'm so very proud!!!  

After George came and took his two eggs and a couple of pieces of meat, I finished up the cart for Kathy then went about getting chores done.  It had been really quiet for a while.  So I went to see if George was around.  I couldn't see hide nor hair of him, but I did hear him having a fit in the same direction I had seen him earlier.  

Something had caught my eye so I walked further up the driveway and sure enough I saw the very reason George was having a fit.

(This photo is not mine.)

Yeah!  That's right this big ugly guy was flying around up in the air.  Right above where George was making all the racket.  Then there wasn't just one, but two.  George has been having a really hard time with these Turkey Vultures.  It all started last year.  They have taken a liking to George's territory and have made themselves a menace for George and Gracie.  It was very very quiet for a while.  I didn't hear a peep out of him.

After I finished chores I saw that every single bird feeder was completely empty.  So I had some time left before a photography meeting I had so I went around and filled all the feeders.  While I was doing so guess who showed up.  Yep!  George was able to come out of hiding.  The Turkey Vultures had gone and he was now flying right over my head wondering what I was doing.  He just kept flying around and around.  He was doing some amazing flight patterns.  I did manage to get this one pic of George flying with a jet in the sky.  George is in the lower left hand corner.

I know its hard to see, but I just thought it was really cool. I tried to get a better one, but I just couldn't get the timing right.  Still cool though.

He finally left right after I took this photo and went back to where he had been hanging out all day. So I'm not sure, but there is probably some road kill on the interstate he is fighting with the Turkey Vultures over.  George can be very protective and vicious if they get to close to the nest or the farm.  

Oh! At one point while the Turkey Vultures were out of sight George did fly really low and croaked at me and made a huge circle over the mountain and back to the farm.  He croaked through the whole circle and back again.  I guess he was just letting everyone know that was his territory.  I love George!!!  Always looking out for us!!!

Thanks for stopping by George: The Old Silo Raven!  George and I appreciate it!

My Lassie has wings!!!

     On Friday the 19th of April.  I went down the farm to visit after taking my mom to the doctors.  While there I grabbed a shovel and helped Kathy do chores.  While I was inside I heard the Whoosh Whoosh of George's powerful wings.  I waited to see if he would call to me and it didn't take long for him to give me a throaty "Croak Croak".  I came out of the barn and he was perched way up in the birch tree looking down.  I laughed at him and said, "Hi George, How's my boy?"  George became excitable and left.  I went in the house and got him an egg.  I put it on the roof for him and started heading back to the barn.  Kathy came out of the barn just as I was heading back in and George was right back on his tree.  We stood there talking to him.  Me mostly.  Then all of a sudden George became very agitated and started talking and croaking.  He began to look at me and croak. He was clearly not happy about something and he would squat down, croak , move side to side and he seemed like he was having a melt down.  He left in a hurry and circled the cow pasture and came back to the tree.  When he left I went back into the barn with Kathy.  Shortly after, George was back and he began his agitated talking again.  I went back out and tried to calm him down.  Then I noticed that he was looking at me then behind me, then at me again.  He did this several times.
George and Gracie's nest is not far from the farm.  So I turned around and to my astonishment George was croaking aggressively at two Turkey Vultures that were flying very very low to the ground right out in our horse pasture.  The closer they circled toward the barn the closer they were circling toward the nest.
     I looked up at George and told him I would take care of it.  I started walking toward the two Turkey Vultures and they flew out of sight away from us and the nest.  After George flew back to the nest, but not without flying around me first then going to check on his family.  Gracie is nesting right now.  This is a very sensitive time for George and Gracie.
     Last year George and Gracie had an all out battle with those two Turkey Vultures.  I guess I'm going to have to start training those Vultures next.
     This photo was taken today.  Here in Vermont it was so warm and there was hardly a cloud in the sky.  Kathy, her husband Bill, my daughter and I were putting up fence all morning.  George made himself quite available to me all day.  He flew over us all day as if he was protecting us.  He even followed us back up the road when we were heading back from the Barnet store with lunch.  We sat out there on the tailgate and had a picnic.  George kept us intertained as he flew circles around us the whole time.  He was probably hoping I would share some of my roast beef sandwich.

Thanks for stopping by!  George and I appreciate you taking your time out to read about our adventures.