Never Murder a Birder by Edie Claire

Author:Edie Claire [Claire, Edie]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: amateur sleuth, whodunnit, comedy, humorous, fun, family life, small town, funny, animal, pets, veterinarian, birdwatching, birds, secrets, Texas, beach vacation
Publisher: Stackhouse Press
Published: 2017-04-14T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter 14

The turkey vulture flapped her wings once, then caught the updraft and poised herself for a good long soar. She was hungry this morning. At least her feathers were dry, and the weather was warm. She teetered on the thermal, craning her ruddy, featherless neck to survey the ground below. As she drifted along the northwest edge of Mustang Island, her eyes were drawn to the stark parallel lines of the road running along the shore, but her vision registered nothing of interest. The scents that filtered through her brain as she glided with the wind were rich and varied, but equally unexciting.

The vulture kept moving, giving her ragged gray wings a flap only as often as strictly necessary. Whenever she located another warm current, she would ride it up high, then soar out to forage again. Her gaze alternated between scanning for carrion below and watching the surrounding skies for signals of good fortune. So far, none of her kind appeared to be having any better luck than she was.

She flapped, rose, and soared again.

The wind was still devoid of any intriguing aroma when her eye at last caught what she was looking for. Her head turned for further study, and the sight exhilarated her to the core.

The vulture changed direction. She could expend more effort now; its use was warranted. The brethren were gathering, and they were calling. Food had been found. From the looks of the group, quite a lot of it.

She could hardly wait.

The vulture caught what thermals she could and flapped the rest of the way. Catching up with her mates, she immediately joined in their dance — a restless swirl of anticipation high above the ground. Ah, yes… she could smell the carrion now. An unusual aroma… but reasonably fresh. A day old maybe. No more than two. She could see it now also. It was quite large, and none of the brethren had descended yet. If the first vulture on the scene had spotted a single serving, he would promptly have dispatched with it. But when one of the brethren spied an entire banquet table, it was customary to wait until sufficient guests had arrived to fill the seats.

The turkey vulture was hungry. She circled restlessly as two, four, and finally seven more birds joined the flock. Not all her kind, but other, testier ones, too. Then at last, the cue came. One of the vultures descended. He landed on the ground next to the carrion, and she and the rest of the group followed.

They were quickly stymied. The object of their attentions was not as accessible as it had appeared. The vulture hovered a second, trying to find someplace to alight that was dry and still close enough to the food, but all such real estate had been claimed already. She sloshed down in a sticky place and studied her options. The carrion was floating in water. A few birds tried to land on top of it, but then the whole

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