On a recent hike in the local mountains, I came across a 5-foot-long Gopher Snake sunning itself across the trail. Luckily it didn't slither off when I approached it. I immediately stopped and backed up a little to get into position to photograph it. I laid flat on the ground and reset the camera on the ground to get a level view of the snake. I had only been there with the snake for a few minutes when I noticed a large shadow hovering over me. I rolled over on my back and noticed it was a large Turkey Vulture circling me. I mumbled to myself "I'm not dead", at least I didn't think so. Maybe that wasn't a Gopher Snake, maybe it was a rattlesnake that got me with a quick strike.
With the rocks digging into my back I knew I wasn’t dead, but I figured I would lay there a few minutes and see what the vulture would do next. My attention was no longer on the Gopher snake and was now on the Turkey Vulture inspecting me. After about five minutes, a second and then a third vulture joined in on the aerial rotation. One of the vultures then landed on a dead tree to my left while the others continued the aerial inspection. I then got up and adjusted my focus on the vulture in the tree. At this point, I guess they realized I wasn't the next meal and the other two vultures started looking for roosting spots in the same tree as the first one.
Only two of the Turkey Vultures decided to hang out in the tree for about 15 minutes, the other vulture took off to probably look for a real meal.
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