Vultures: the birds, not the lawyers.

Vulture
n. Any one of numerious species of rapacious birds belonging to Vulture, Cathartes, Catharista, nd various other genera of the family Vulturid[ae].
Note: In most of the species the head and neck are naked or nearly so. They feed chiefly on carrion.
(source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary)

So, now the question is (for me anyway), what the heck is carrion? Back to the book.

Carrion
n. The dead and putrefying body or flesh of an animal; flesh so corrupted as to be unfit for food.
(source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary)

I always knew that Vultures eat dead animals, but carrion sounds so much worse. I snapped this picture down the street from my house. The picture does not capture the entire scene. Not only were these seven vultures sitting on the house, there were more circling the house and sitting in the trees off to the sides. The house is for sale, I have never seen anybody go in or out of the house. In the center upstairs window, just below the vulture, you can see a huge hornet nest. I never noticed this house before I took the picture. I'm thinking this is not a friendly house. It reminded me of the movie, the Burbs. The one with Tom Hanks.

So why did the birds decide to pertch here? I don't see any carrion. I don't smell any carrion. I don't even hear any carrion. But the vultures must have! The sweet, sweet smell of fresh carrion (fresh carrion makes no sense) must have been coming out of the chimney. The last potential buyer for this house may not have ever come out. Maybe, just maybe, the realtor is a mad scientist, conducting evil experiments and hiding the bodies inside! Time to set up surveillance on this house!