Let’s talk turkey.

Scratch that.

Let’s talk turkey vulture.

This big bald son of a bitch plays an important role in our local ecosystem. He has a truly remarkable sense of smell for a bird, and he uses that superpower to sniff out animals that have died out in the forest or wherever. And when he does, he swoops down and eats them up! Yum yum!

Turkey vultures are really weird birds, even apart from their questionable diet. They like to chill out with their buddies. They swoop up high in the air and can glide around on thermals for, like, forever, hanging out up in the sky sniff-sniff-sniffing for carrion. They never make a sound.

This week on KHUM-FM’s regular “Humboldt Baywatch” feature, DJ Midge Martin and Carol Vandermeer of Friends of the Dunes talked about their mutual appreciation of this frankly disgusting yet totally amazing airborne neighbor. Let’s listen in and learn lots more about the topic! 

“Humboldt Baywatch,” March 23, 2022

Listen to how Midge segues into John Mayer’s song “Vultures” as this segment ends. Like Midge? Like John Mayer? Well, tune into KHUM-FM at 104.7/104.3 FM on your radio dial any morning … or click right here to stream it online! Midge is playing Beck as of this writing.