Vulture capitalists

A trio of turkey vultures watches for predators while finishing off a meal of carrion in the big field at Canatara Park last week.

A trio of turkey vultures watches for predators while finishing off a meal of carrion in the big field at Canatara Park last week.

Unlike most birds, turkey vultures find food by smell, often flying low to the ground to pick up the scent of gases coming from a decaying animal. Though graceful flyers capable of soaring great distances without flapping their wings, they are awkward on the ground and struggle to get airborne again, hence their wariness here. Glenn Ogilvie