I was out in the backyard this morning just shortly after sunrise when movement caught my attention.  I looked up to see this flock come in for their landings in a standing dead pine tree on our lot about 60 yards from the back of the house.



I'm pretty sure that they were Turkey Vultures. They were a carrion eating breed of some sort for certain. Crappy photo I know but I didn't want to ge too much closer to them than this.

The group sat there almost motionless and silent for 2-3 hours.  The only real movement was when I walked out to snap the above photo. The only noise they made was the sounds their wings made as they shifted nervously about the tree. The dogs didn't seem to bother them in the least but I was not a welcome figure.

It was actually more than a little creepy. My morbid curiosity had me getting up to check on them every 10 minutes or so.  Nothing, they just sat up there. The harbingers of death, in a dead tree, just waiting. Maybe I've seen a certain Hitchcock movie too many times but they kept me interested in them for a good long time.

Weird way to start the day.

After supper last night I fired up to do some online work and this is what Firefox got back from news.google.com



This happens less than a week after reading through a rather long and flattering story on the technology behind Google I found courtesy of FastCompany.

In an odd sort of way I was actually relieved to see that error. Just proves that no one's immune to the occaisional problem.