Picture Books - Vulture View

You never know what you will see on a walk in this neighborhood. So far, since we moved in about 2 years ago the wildlife hasn’t been much in variety as our previous home. Oh, there is the standard geese, ducks, rabbits, and chipmunks, but the birds aren’t as plentiful and no squirrels to date. Of course, we did previously live near a large park with a bird sanctuary. However, for living in the city we had a number of fun sightings including a beaver one-day. After today though, I’m thinking this neighborhood is starting to pick up a bit in some interesting creatures.

The wee one and I were out for a walk/stroll in our small size nicely squared neighborhood. As we rounded the corner we noticed two large animals in the street. Continuing up the sidewalk we then noticed they were very, very large birds. Then it dawned on me these weren’t your everyday neighborhood birds, but rather Turkey Vultures. Oh, how I wished I had my camera with me. The pair stood picking at a carcass in the street and didn’t budge until we were about 10 feet away. It was amazing. I know Turkey Vultures are common through out the states, but when you see these enormous birds fly off with their 6 feet wing spans, we think hum I’m extra glad our cat stays indoors.

A book that would have been great to have on hand today would have been April Pulley Sayre’s new release Vulture View. According to her website she describes the book as “It explores the life of vultures, surely some of the most underappreciated cleaners in the world. It also teaches kids about warm air rising and cooling air sinking. Steve Jenkins has created gorgeous art for this book. The text is young, lyrical, with a push, pull, and refrain that kids will love. It works for surprisingly advanced audiences. Older kids seem to like the gritty facts of a vulture's life.” Our library has the book on order.