(The Vultures of Culpeper. Photo Rob Graham, WINY news).

It must be Sunday. No gunfire. I know there is a ton of stuff to be concerned about, but honestly, life is pretty good. More than a couple days at the farm and I can feel the rhythm change, some of the Beltway angst drain away. I was wondering about turkey vultures, the roosting habits of which were the number one story in the Clarion-Bugle.

Above the fold. These are alarming and hostile birds, and this is quite a different kettle of fish from some theoretical policy question back inside the Beltway.

This whole matter pits locals against the birds, which have struck up an alliance with the Agriculture Department against the elected city government.

The matter has been an issue for ten years.

Finally, the city has come up with a plan that is acceptable to the federal government. They re going to go  after about seventy of the big cranky black birds and relocate them. I hate to be a NIMBY about this, but I sure hope they don’t get relocated here.

It is illegal to shoot them for some reason. If it wasn’t, a well regulated citizenry would have blasted them a long time ago. You need a Federal permit since for some reason the government is protecting vultures. That may just be professional courtesy, but the alternative to killing them is to drive them crazy with noise and flashing lights early in the morning, which may be irritating to just about everyone, flight-capable or not.

Federal and town officials have been working on this effort for about 10 years. It won’t start until next week, so I will just hope they don’t chase the vultures over here. If they do, I don’t think the garden Gnome is going to frighten them off.

Copyright 2012 Vic Socotra
www.vicsocotra.com