The Rookery

Here you see what my kids call "The Rookery."
Click on this photo by "N" of GAIN. The black blobs that you see (if you do not click) are roosting turkey vultures. If you can zoom in, you can see the bare, red heads, one feature that distinguishes the turkey vulture from the black vulture (which has a black head). About the same amount of birds were in the air as were roosted at 7 p.m. this evening. We've seen them here since 2003ish. We see them reel around high and higher in the sky whenever we're at a ball game on a sunny evening. This is spot is in the neighborhood of GC1333B Wise Guys, and more specifically near

N 41° 33.988 W 093° 45.498

Because of the undergrowth, mosquitoes, and general sogginess of the area (standing water, don't you know), GAIN Academy and I could not get closer to the cottonwood tree where the birds roost. You could hear the soft, unfamiliar sounds of the birds -- "A" says it's an eerie sound -- and collect feathers (hopefully that is legal).

To me, the amazing thing about this roost is the location. It's in the middle of a very small wood. Houses are on two sides of it, a city park on the other two sides. They have approved of this wood and not moved to a different place since we first saw it in 2003.