North-northwest of my place is a nature preserve, county park, and medical office complex. Yesterday while driving home from seeing MONSTERS VERSUS ALIENS (good flick, by the way!) my passenger Mike (the guy who makes werewolf and polar bear suits) and I were startled to see a huge bird flying overhead. And of course we didn't have a camera. Mike thought it was a hawk. No, I disagreed, I've seen the local hawks and this was a lot bigger. Today I was at one of those medical offices getting the final examination of the thumb I'd mentioned earlier (prognosis was perfectly fine, by the way). While starting to drive home, I mused it was too bad that today I actually had the camera in the car.... As if on cue, yesterday's giant bird flew into view, followed by another one!!!!!!! Good thing I was on a side street. I got the camera in operation as soon as I could. I missed the guys divebombing the front of the Francescan Brotherhood clinic.... damn! But I managed to get these two shots before the pair split up, one heading east, the other west. Originally I thought I'd managed to find a pair of urban eagles. Now, though, I think the pair are vultures. Check out the beak on the left image. ========= Okay, now it's four hours after posting the pic and the above text. I went down to watch CHUCK and HEROES in the living room with Lee, my landlord (also the skinny guy with the beard in the "Halloween at My Place" pics). I mentioned the huge birds I'd photographed and he reminded me of an odd news item from last year. In that medical complex is a building named Orthopedic Clinic (which is also where I got my thumb worked on). Staff and patients in the 3rd floor surgical center were startled to see Turkey Buzzards perched outside the windows of the Recovery Room. Naturalists concluded that recent floods had prompted a flock of a half dozen turkey buzzards to move to the nearby riverside park and set up housekeeping. Drowned animals caught in a nearby dam and backwaters provided the birds with a steady diet. It was unknown then if the birds would stay or move on. Apparently a pair of them liked the area enough to return this year. I'll keep an eye out in hopes of getting better images.