Big Sit Meat Pile

Every year, in anticipation of the Big Sit, I get all jiggy with my preparations. This involves spreading mixed seed around the weedy edges of the yard, cleaning and filling the feeders, and hauling chairs, coolers, coats, cushions, Cheetos, chips, checklists, and things beginning with other letters, up to the tower where we conduct this annual exercise in birding/loafing.

And then there's the meat pile.

There are many, many packages of meat and meat-like products that go into our various freezers, never to be seen again. They live there in the frosty darkness, ignored by us, meal after meal and I believe these meats begin to grow resentful. This resentment makes them bitter and dried out. Before the seasons all recycle, these bits of food are good for nothing else but the meat pile.

The meat pile is in the middle of our meadow. It is, yes, you guessed it—a pile of freezer-burned and spoiled meat. I place it there hoping to attract our local resident red-shouldered and red-tailed hawks, and perhaps some passing, sniffing turkey vultures. The side benefit is that lots of other animals visit the meat pile. How do I know this? Check out the photos below.
As I set up the meat pile, removing the packaging, Chet Baker is always there in case I needed a hand/paw. Or a taste tester.

I set up a game camera, one equipped with flash and motion detecting lasers. It also works during the day, as the picture of my backside (below) shows.

The turkey vultures found the meat pile last year after just three days of full, hot, meat-rotting sun. Awesome! Yes, we keep Chet Baker away from the meat pile.

While doing the Big Sit last year, I was alone in the tower when a huge pack of coyotes began arguing in the meadow over the rights to dine at the meat pile. I took a photo of my face as the howling and growling was splitting the night air. It was so chilling hearing these sounds that it gave me goose flesh.
Here are a couple of images captured of the coy-dogs. I love how the camera gives the date, time, phase of the moon, and the temperature and barometric pressure, too!
Nice! Look how big this coyote is. Another reason to keep Chet inside!

Attracting Vultures

My apologies for the utter dearth of posts here since mid-last week. I've been down with the flu and am only just now coming around enough to shoo the vultures from my windowsill. They could tell I was about to start decomposing. In fact, in one of my fever-dreams, I heard this conversation between two turkey vultures that were perched above my bed, looking at me:

Young vulture: "Hey Dad! Is that food?"
Dad vulture: "No my boy. That is a human male, still breathing, but apparently very sick"
YV: "What do we call food that's not yet ready to eat, Dad?"
DV: "Alive. But all things die, so we can wait. There will always be food for patient vultures."
YV: "And when he dies, what will he be then?"
DV: "Carrion, my wayward son."