The power of two - and 2 to the 4th

Before I left Porches yesterday I went outside to see if I could spot the two black vultures. I found a downy feather on the skylight glass and was even more curious to see how large they were in a more normal context. Sitting on the skylight they looked big but their necks had downy feathers too, so I knew they weren't adults.

After only a minute I spied them circling above the house, quite low, and although I couldn't see much I was happy to say goodbye to them. After I said goodbye I walked on through the front area of the house and when I glanced up again there were 2 x 2 x 2 x 2 - 2 to the fourth power - of black vultures spinning and weaving and soaring above me.

I don't know enough about the family structure of black vultures to know if it was a family group or simply a bunch of friends, but it was such a delight to see the spinning kaleidoscope of birds in the bright sky.

Leaving was difficult but as is usual once I started packing things into the car, my mind spun forward to November Hill and getting home. As I drove out of the Porches and onto the little country road it sits on, a few houses down, two black vultures dashed on foot out in front of my car. It was the two young ones, and now that they were on the ground, in the context where I could measure them against things like flowers and bushes and the car, I saw that they were much smaller than adult size. I think they were around 14 inches high from foot to top of head. They dashed in and out of the brush a few times, and said another goodbye, and then flew off again.

Seeing these two young birds was such a treat. I have only ever seen adults up close and I suspect the youth of these two is what sparked their curiosity about the skylight and what was inside it. The adult birds seem much more aloof and except for the huge injured turkey vulture my daughter and I rescued once, I've never been able to get very close to them at all.

As I drove into Chatham County, the first thing I saw in the sky was a kettle of vultures circling, a very common sight in our area, and when I turned onto our main road and passed the little church, a single black vulture was resting on the very top of the steeple. I've seen this only a few times, and once saw one on the same steeple spreading its wings in the sun. A productive, much-needed retreat that was already such a gift ended on another rare and lovely note.

And now I'm home! It's a perfect sunny day on November Hill.