Gary Helm
"The Golden Purifer"
Turkey vultures don't get as much respect as they should. They're ugly and, as scavengers, they do nature's dirty work. But by eating roadkill and other carcuses, they're actually doing us a favor and keeping down the spread of disease.
They do have a cool scientific name — Cathartes aura — meaning golden purifer or cleansing air. But they've also been viewed as a source of disease and a symbol of death. The "buzzards" in those Westerns circling overhead just waiting for the good guys to croak as they run low on water while traversing some cruel desert are turkey vultures.
On the other hand, non-Europeans have a much more sympathetic, even admiring view of the vulture. According to Native American mythology, the sun was once too close to the earth. A fox tried to move it away and failed. A opossom tried and failed. Finally, a beautifully plumed turkey vulture successfully pushed the sun away with his head, but in the process his feathers burned, and he was made bald for eternity. The Pueblo people of the Southwest saw the turkey vulture as a symbol of purity, and used its feathers to remove evil from people and things.
I found this one at Joe Overstreet Landing in Osceola County, Florida.
"The Golden Purifer"
Turkey vultures don't get as much respect as they should. They're ugly and, as scavengers, they do nature's dirty work. But by eating roadkill and other carcuses, they're actually doing us a favor and keeping down the spread of disease.
They do have a cool scientific name — Cathartes aura — meaning golden purifer or cleansing air. But they've also been viewed as a source of disease and a symbol of death. The "buzzards" in those Westerns circling overhead just waiting for the good guys to croak as they run low on water while traversing some cruel desert are turkey vultures.
On the other hand, non-Europeans have a much more sympathetic, even admiring view of the vulture. According to Native American mythology, the sun was once too close to the earth. A fox tried to move it away and failed. A opossom tried and failed. Finally, a beautifully plumed turkey vulture successfully pushed the sun away with his head, but in the process his feathers burned, and he was made bald for eternity. The Pueblo people of the Southwest saw the turkey vulture as a symbol of purity, and used its feathers to remove evil from people and things.
I found this one at Joe Overstreet Landing in Osceola County, Florida.