nPostednon March 15, 2014
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Therenis a lovely spring-is-coming tradition, where I live in Southern California, that the swallows return to Mission San Juan Capistrano every March 19. (Although the tradition hasn’t been kept up of late! Birds thesendays! What’re you gonna do?)
Therenis a lovely spring-is-coming tradition, where I live in Southern California, that the swallows return to Mission San Juan Capistrano every March 19. (Although the tradition hasn’t been kept up of late! Birds thesendays! What’re you gonna do?) n
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nWell,nthe town of Hinkley, Ohio, has a less-lovely-sounding tradition everynMarch 15—at least for the past 150 years. That’s the date that thenbuzzards return from their wintering grounds.
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| Swallow |
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nWhyndo I say “less lovely”? I suppose it’s ridiculous prejudicenagainst scavengers – that is, animals that eat already-dead, decaying creatures.nOf course, it’s terrific that scavengers like buzzardsnexist—or we’d be surrounded by those dead, decaying creatures!—butnbuzzards are larger than swallows, and they’re arguably lessngraceful. They flap more than they flit. And we find their bald,nred-skinned heads…well, uglier than the swallows’ fluffily featherednheads.
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| Buzzard |
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Anyway,nI’m so happy that the people of Hinkley—plus around 9,000nvisitors each year—give the returning buzzards a big welcome. People sipntheir early-morning coffee and nibble on treats as they wait with their binocularsnand cameras, each hoping to be the first to spot the buzzards. n
Anyway,nI’m so happy that the people of Hinkley—plus around 9,000nvisitors each year—give the returning buzzards a big welcome. People sipntheir early-morning coffee and nibble on treats as they wait with their binocularsnand cameras, each hoping to be the first to spot the buzzards. nn
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nAnd a few people wear buzzard shirts. Even buzzard hats!
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nWhat’snthe difference between vultures and buzzards?
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nAndnwhat about turkey vultures and turkey buzzards?
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nThencreatures who arrive in Hinkley right on time every year are turkeynvultures. Turkey vultures live in North and South America; they arennot closely related to the vultures of the “Old World”—Africa,nAsia, and Europe—but they look a bit like them because they live innsimilar ways.
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n“Buzzards”nis a word used by many in North America for turkey vultures. And somenpeople call them “turkey buzzards”! So…several names for thensame creature.
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nInnHinkley, however, it’s buzzard all the way! Today is Buzzard Day,nSunday will be Buzzard Sunday and feature a pancake breakfast, andnhometown teams often have buzzard mascots!
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nLearnnmore about turkey vultures (a.k.a. buzzards) here, over here, or overnthere.
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nAlsonon this date:
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Purim
Purim n
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nReindeer Driving Competition
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NationalnDay in Hungary
NationalnDay in Hungaryn
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nConstitutionnDay in Belarus
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nJ.nJ. Robert’s Birthday in Liberia
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nAstronautnAlan Bean’s birthday
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nPlannahead:
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nChecknout my Pinterest boards for:
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n Historicaln anniversaries in March
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nAndnhere are my Pinterest boards for:
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nApriln holidays
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nHistoricaln anniversaries in April
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