On the last day of 2023, I walked down to my mailbox and discovered a whole bunch of turkey vultures and black vultures on the road and in the trees nearby. I knew that meant that something, and almost certainly something large, had died. I grabbed my camera (to photograph the birds) and went to explore. It turns out a deer had been hit by a car, and it was astounding how quickly the birds were cleaning it up. It was late afternoon, and the sun was heading down behind the birds, making the light really terrible for anything except silhouettes of black birds. I did manage to get this shot of one turkey vulture (Carthartes aura) with its wings outstretched and catching the afternoon light in its feathers. The sun had just peeked out from behind the clouds when I took the shot. I really liked the way it made the feathers light up (and I did not enhance those colors). This is a pretty common behavior for these birds, and they do it for several reasons including drying their feathers and warming themselves. But the main reason that they do it is to allow the warmth and light from the sun to kill bacteria that may get on the feathers while feeding. These birds are so incredibly well adapted for eating carrion and much of their anatomy and behavior reflects that. I can’t help but admire them.