Friday, May 12 -Guests In The Hay Loft

Last week, Friday May 5, I was in the barn getting the mower ready to take out and start on the yard. As I was working, putting air in the tires, I heard footsteps in the hay mow overhead.  I knew it wasn't the stray cat that sometimes hangs out up there because there was clicking with each step and although they were heavy they weren't as heavy as the racoons that I know hang out up there because I find their scat on the steps. I slowly started up the steps to see what might be there and as I was about head level with the floor I heard steps and then a whoosh as a large turkey vulture exited through the broken window in the south end of our barn.

The broken window in the end of the barn.

Now I know that some of you may find turkey vultures a little repulsive and I guess when you think about the fact that they feed by sticking their heads into dead animal carcasses I can understand your thinking. I, however, think of them in flight, soaring gracefully high above, catching air currents that take them where ever they choose.  Did you know that the Wright brothers studied the turkey vultures in Dayton as they were building their first glider? They designed the wings of their glider to duplicate the aerodynamics of the turkey vulture's wing.  Any way they are among my top 5 favorite birds so I was elated to see one so close. Usually I only see them about 30 feet up roosting in one of our sycamore trees down by the creek. This year several have been spending time in some of the dead ash trees in the pasture near the barn.

On Saturday I was thinking about why a buzzard would be in our hay mow so I went back up with a flashlight and imagine my surprise when I saw that there were 2 large speckled eggs laying in a loosely fashioned nest of straw on the floor in the back corner.

The eggs are about 3 1/2 to 4" long

I hastily exited and dug out my Peterson Field Guide of Eastern Bird's Nests to learn that the eggs are incubated by both sexes and generally take about 30 days before hatching. (it was also noted 41 days or 4-6 weeks)  I've only seen a turkey vulture nest once and that was out at the Wilds in Zanesville. That nest was on a steep hillside under a rocky ledge and had chicks inside that were quite noisy.  I'm not sure how my barn swallows are going to like their noisy upstairs neighbors. Wednesday I went to Gander Mtn. and bought a trail cam,  Yesterday I set it up and I plan to post several pics each day to watch the progress.  I'm not sure about whether the parents will tolerate me once they hatch. When I set up the camera yesterday she (or he) hopped off the nest and hid behind a bale of straw but that may change once there are chicks in the nest.  I do know that they can make a terrible hissing noise when provoked. As a docent when we took animals out for talks on Senior Safari, we had a turkey vulture named Lurch in the back of the van and he hissed all the way to the nursing home we were visiting. (I always wondered what the thought process was when they sent us with a buzzard to visit a nursing home but that's a topic for another day.)

May 11, 2017  The time is stamped at the bottom of each photo

This was soon after I had set up the camera. She had been hiding behind the straw bale.

Notice standing on the left side of the first bale of straw. You can see the eye shine of a racoon.