Two Scary Sights

Hiking around Tortugas Mountain this morning we came upon these shotgun shell casings. They were scattered in various places along the side of a dirt road, leading to the suspicion that someone was shooting from a vehicle. This is as careless and wreckless a behavior as one can imagine, second only, perhaps, to drinking alcohol and carelessly shooting a friend in the face with shotgun pellets while hunting doves, as some have suggested was the case in the infamous Vice-President-Dick-Cheney incident in Texas.

If you have been shot in the face and you're staggering through the desert looking for help, the last thing you want to see is a turkey vulture or two hovering above you. These scavengers (also known as buzzards), with bald red heads, hunt the desert floor for carrion--something you never want to be. They are huge birds that resemble turkeys when not in flight. But they are expert fliers, riding thermals to greater and greater heights in their search for food, beating their wings only rarely as they soar across the bright blue sky.