Turkey Vulture (Cathartes aura)
With the exception of a few eastern bluebirds (Sialia sialis), we didn’t see many birds on our walk on the Cascade Loop Trail in Patapsco Valley State Park today. As we neared the far extreme end of the loop we started to smell what we have to assume was a dead animal. It got stronger and stronger and then we were startled by this turkey vulture (Cathartes aura), fluttering up to a small branch from a streambed. Thankfully we could not see what the bird had been feeding on and once we passed that spot, we were up wind and could no longer smell it.