Sunday afternoon as we were driving home along Huffaker Road in a fairly built-up area, I glanced up at a water tank and saw some birds. At first I thought they were crows, but then I realized they were too big to be crows. They were vultures (also known as turkey vultures, buzzards or turkey buzzards).

Vultures lining the walkway

There was quite a flock of them, including a large number flying around the water tower. Some of the birds were sitting with their wings spread.

Wing spreading behavior

There are a couple with spread wings near the center tower support, and at least one other near the right-hand side of the tank.

I have seen this type of behavior in vultures before, but only in the morning. These shots were taken at around 4 pm. According to the Standford Web site, vultures spread their wings in the sun this to dry their wings and warm themselves. This site says that the birds maintain their body temperature at a lower level at night than during the day, and the wing spreading behavior is intended to bring their temperatures up to normal, daytime levels. That is certainly consistent with seeing it in the morning, but not so much in the afternoon.

The day was relatively cool until afternoon, and there was some wind. It’s possible this was just a good opportunity to sunbathe. They were facing west, with a nice, warm metal surface behind them, so it was probably pretty comfortable.