This is just a photo that I dug up from 2017 — those great winged horrors that you see are carrion-eating turkey vultures (cathartes aura). They were seemingly everywhere when I first came to Roanoke that year — but I haven’t seen too many since. (Or maybe they just haven’t again roosted near enough for me to see them — there are plenty of birds with tremendous wingspans overhead, and I don’t think they’re eagles.)
Turkey vultures are truly ugly beasts.
I’d hate to think of what he hides for the children to find.
As I’ve said before, I’d love to get a picture for you guys, but these guys really stick to the shadows — like stinky ninjas.
They’re definitely a bit LARGER than you might expect — or at least they are around my neighborhood’s woods.
I was incredibly impressed with Virginia’s Covid-19 vaccination program. The Virginia Department of Health’s sign-up process was easy enough, the VDH FAQ page covered everything, and the Carilion Vaccine Clinic staff at the Berglund Center off Williamson Road in Roanoke were speedy, pleasant and courteous — even by Southern standards. (I got in and out in no time at all.)
Everyone involved did a truly admirable job. Way to go, VA.
How’s that for a name for a species? It sounds like either a horror story or a children’s book.
If you get a really close look at it, that spot on its back is sort of in the shape of a heart — which suggests this guy would make a pretty creative Valentine’s day present. Also — that spot ought to be orange or white, geographically speaking. The ones with yellow markings are only supposed to be found in certain parts of Florida. Yet our friend found sunny Roanoke, VA.
Anyway … if you zoom in reaaaaaally close, you can actually see his ring of eyes.
I’m not sure who our mystery predator is here. As I’ve noted before, there is a notable dearth of stray cats in Roanoke. I occasionally see one — but it’s nothing like my native New York, where stray cats outnumber people with a clean driving record.
Maybe the pupper next door did it. I dunno. He seems to be one of those gruff dogs who’s nevertheless timid (and adorable). He sort of grumble-barks tentatively and then goes instantly quiet when you make eye contact with him. He wandered into my backyard last summer and spent at least five minutes literally trembling in front of an empty tent, before he got up enough courage to bark at it. Eventually he even ran away from that.
Whatever the case, I hope that the little patch of ground below doesn’t lie along a suburban game trail. The is a place where bunny buds are known to roam. And the last one I startled there just ran in a confused figure eight — and then mistakenly ran at me for a moment instead of away. (Little brown fella had some kind of spatial relations problem. Or maybe he was channeling General Woundwort.)
This is Fair View Cemetery in Roanoke, Virginia, on a dour and trippy day. The winglike appearance in the sunlight is kinda neat.
I swear to you, it’s so thick in Roanoke right now that you can’t see your hand in front of your face. (I know that is a cliche, sorry, but it’s totally apt). When I first I looked out my window tonight, I thought there was a blackout.
Great news — I am going to be published in Germany again! The nice folks over at Newington Blue Press have selected one poem and one photograph of mine to appear in the limited edition Issue No. 2 of Buk 100: My Old Man, A Birthday Greeting. The poem is my recent piece “Ode to a New Black Ballpoint Pen.” The photo is of the Shaffer’s Crossing Norfolk Southern Railway Bridge right here in Roanoke.
I am truly honored to learn that my work will appear in Issue No. 2 — especially after several of my poems appeared in Issue No. 1 of Buk 100 back in June. (These were “Guerrilla Poet” and “First Smoke.”) I am also quite happy to see that a photo of my adopted Bible Belt city will appear in a literary publication in Europe.
Buk 100: My Old Man, A Birthday Greeting is a set of chapbooks commemorating what would have been the 100th birthday of Charles Bukowski. Their featured writing and art were selected to showcase “a conversance and artistic involvement with the phenomenon of Bukowski.”
Thanks once again to Matthias Krueger at Newington Blue Press for allowing me to be a part of this unique international tribute to a legendary poet!
By Commonurbock23 – Own work, CC BY 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=4030361
But it wasn’t this year’s upcoming Marvel Cinematic Universe movie — it was a real goddam highly venomous spider on the outside of my garbage pail just now. (The signature red hourglass marking would be on its underside.) I would have loved to find Scarlett Johansson clinging to the side of my garbage pails, but generally my luck doesn’t work like that.
My neighbor found it and pointed it out to me, and my Internet search indeed seems to confirm that it is of the Southern Black Widow Spider (Latrodectus mactans) species. I also learned two fun facts: 1) “black widows” are actually several species of spiders that are also called “true widows,” which I find vaguely poetic, and 2) these are the most venomous spiders in North America. The female’s bite is approximately 15 times more potent than than a rattlesnake bite. Okay … that second fact is probably more terrifying than it is “fun.”
My neighbor also started telling me other black widow facts, like how if you find one, you can expect to find more because of … mating season or something, but I literally walked away as fast as I could, because that’s the kind of fatally depressing news I expect from the national news.
Anyway, my best friend got a new pet just yesterday, and she keeps showing off her hamster pics — so maybe this is my way of keeping up with the Joneses.
Eric Robert Nolan, Author 