Vultures are some of my favorite birds, not because they are highly beautiful, because they really aren’t, but because they are so important in helping to keep the environment clean. Without vultures and other carrion eaters, we would live in a very dirty and very smelly world. In Florida, we have two types of vultures, the turkey vulture (Cathartes aura) and the black vulture (Coragyps atratus). As you have probably guessed by these images, this bird is a turkey vulture. They are so named because their bald, red heads resemble those of turkeys. This one was down beside the road near my office eating something. I’d say whatever it was happened to be pretty fresh since there was fresh blood on the birds beak. As is typical for these birds, it was being very careful while eating and would frequently stop and look around. There were several other vultures in the area and I suspect this bird was making sure that no one else could run him off of his meal.