When thinking of a bird that could represent Halloween I think of vultures. Crows or ravens would be scarier but I didn’t come across those recently.  On a day off in September I headed down an hour from my house to Myakka River State Park. I had not been in over a year and wasn’t expecting to find much there in September but I wanted to get out of the house. I found a little obscure trail that led to a dead end with a small dock across the river.  The roof of the dock was covered in vultures and there  were  more nearby on the ground. I think there had been a dead alligator in the area. They were looking at me very curiously, probably wondering what I was doing in their spot.

Up close. This one has a small boo boo on his face.

On the ground next to the trail.

Taken with my phone, you could see how close they were.

I was keeping an eye on this guy right below me in the water.