Turkey vultures never seem to hurry. They glide silently above us, drawing circles in the air, calligraphers with quill pens. They tip and turn up there in the wind, rarely flapping those long willowy ...

Turkey vultures, Cathartes aura, are fairly common in the Berkshires, joined of late by the black vulture, Coragyps atratus, a very similar, but slightly smaller bird with a grey-black head. Both ...