State of the Blog. Crossed 3000 posts for the streak on 11 August 2026. This is post #5278 overall and #3025 for the streak. [Counting Posts]
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Dinner Is Served
Hand grips mouse. I wait.
Black wings wide. Coming at me.
Mealtime exercise.
Today is International Vulture Awareness Day. The Audubon Center for Birds of Prey held a haiku contest. The above was my entry.
It did not win.
I did not expect it to win.
This situation only makes sense to someone who has fed vultures. But, this is what comes to mind for me when I think of vultures.
At one of my incarnation in the zoo world, I worked with education animals. Every day at 4 pm, we would down tools and troop over to the aviary to exercise and feed the vultures. They would fly back and forth, noming on the mouse parts we would being holding in our gloved fists.
It is quite a moment to have a raptor flying straight toward your face. It registers strongly with some small squeaky part of your ancestral DNA.
Audubon Florida: Center for Birds of Prey Announces Haiku Contest Winners for In-Person Storywalk. Check out the winners.
Onwards!
Katherine
Virtual Brush Box 