A Kettle of Vultures

© Robin Edmundson, 'A Kettle of Vultures - Study', watercolor, 10 x 14 inches. 

This was a quick study of the way the light went through the bottoms of some trees in the fields the other day - and a study of a kettle of vultures flying around.   We see these often out here and it's mesmerizing to watch them fly the updrafts.   It's one of our favorite things about living in deep country.  

There are some things I want to correct in the next draft of this piece, but there's something I really love about this study.   I keep coming back to it.  

Is it the light?   The motion of the birds in the sky?   Everyone in the family has had that reaction...there's something compelling in this one.

I'll be working on this idea again.

Vultures

These birds are as much a part of our lives out here as trash collectors are in town. 

They have the same job, essentially. 

Last week we had a dead possum and a dead deer on the road.    The scavengers, mostly vultures - during the day, took care of them before they really started to stink.

Thank heaven.

Have you ever watched one of these guys fly?    They float on the air.    You can always tell where the updrafts are in the Spring and Fall - the vultures ride them, long lazy spirals in the air.

They go south when the weather gets too cold to carry the smell of....uh....dinner....to them.    They leave toward the end of November and come back in February.     Vultures mean Spring.