Committee Flying High

It was a cool afternoon, and we were lying on the bed, books in hand; BBBH reading hers, mine a prop so that one would not immediately conclude that I was dozing. I turned to my right to peer out the window at the stunningly clear, azure sky. And I was stunned, stunned to see dozens of vultures slowly flying toward the southeast.

I called Beautiful's attention to the sight. She laid her book aside and peeked out the window, failing to take in the birds. "You're fibbing," she accused, as though I were in the habit of doing such a thing. "No, no," I said. "Look just there!" I pointed.

We got up and went outside. What a spectacle we beheld as the committee of vultures seemed to expand in size as birds circled in from all directions and joined their peers. "There are hundreds of them!" exclaimed BBBH. "I've never seen anything like it." "Dead horse," I speculated, "over that way." Well, it might have been a cow, or what-have-you. But indeed it was the largest colony, or wake, of vultures we had ever seen.

A flock of vultures is called a "colony of vultures." It may also be referred to as a "committee" or a "wake." Committee strikes my fancy, having chaired entirely too many committees in my time. Wake is clearly appropriate, given the office of these birds.

If you find the photography less than stellar, please cut me some slack. You must realize the camera is a 4X zoom, 4mp point-and-shoot, and it has logged lots of clicks, too.