I mentioned on Wednesday that the day before the dogs and I found a dead armadillo in the road near our driveway, and that later in the day a vulture was chowing down. Wednesday as Leah and I down the driveway for our regular lunch of huevos rancheros and a visit to the grocery store, we found a wake* of vultures feeding on that lone, little armadillo carcass.
They startled at our approach, so I slowed down. A few had flown, thereby becoming a kettle*, but most stayed near the dinner table.
I count at least 15, although I am pretty sure there were more
* “Wake” may or may not be a legitimate term for a group of vultures feeding on the ground. Likewise, kettle may or may not be a real term for a group of vultures in flight. I suspect that most scientists who deal with birds don’t use these terms; I’m pretty sure they would refer to a group of birds on the ground or in flight as a flock.
Scientists have their lingo. Everyday folk have theirs. The language is constantly evolving, and we’re all better for it!
Paul — I wonder how many people actually use all of those esoteric terms of venery. I tried to do a (very) little research on the vulture-related terms and found that kettle can refer to any group of birds, including mixed species, that are wheeling about in a circle in the air. For the most part, the terms seem more like interesting trivia than words we really use.
I don’t know whether I have ever recommended the language log blog ( http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/ ) but if you’re interested in language, and I know you are, you might find some of their posts interesting.
I’m glad to see the armadillo fed a few vultures. They do such a fine job of cleaning things up. I had an old blogger friend from years ago whose blog was called Vulture Cafe. I really liked that way of seeing things. Cool pics!