<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><div dir="auto" style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">Convergence</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 14px;" class=""><b class=""></b><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">The blood-red heads </div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">of Turkey Vultures,</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">their leathery skin designed</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">to burrow into bodies</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">and strip fetid flesh</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">from bones, lack</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">the feathered allure</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">of other birds.</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 14px;" class=""><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">But when they soar</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">on warm, rising currents, </div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">their broad wings sculpt</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">the air in circular patterns</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">and they become artists of motion</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">as they scan the ground </div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">for their next meal.</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 14px;" class=""><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">They are morticians of the sky.</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">They dispose of dead meat</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">that will never see </div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">the inside of a casket.</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">Bodies that, without this bird’s</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">peculiar appetite,</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">are left to rot in place.</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 14px;" class=""><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">The job of an earthbound mortician</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">is to sell polished caskets,</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">but what made the vulture</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">choose her role to play?</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">We say something “smells</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">to high heaven”—</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">precisely the scent </div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">the vulture seeks.</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 14px;" class=""><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">No prey to be had—</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">no life or death battle</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">like her raptor brethren.</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">No killer instinct needed.</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">Just be willing to deal</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">with death not of their </div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">own making.</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 14px;" class=""><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">They stand on mountain tops, </div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">their ponderous wings outstretched</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">in the hope the mid-morning sun</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">will draw the permeating stench </div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">from their scavenger bodies.</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>- Steve Trenam</div></div></body></html>