Turkey Vulture

In America, vultures are right up there with wolves, snakes, spiders and bats in terms of popularity. But other cultures, at other times, have seen the vulture with different eyes. In at least some versions of Exodus, God advises Moses to remind the sinful children of Israel that "I bore you upon wings of vultures and brought you unto me." In ancient Egypt, the goddess Nekhbet, the mother of all things, often is depicted with a vulture's head. To some American Indians, the vulture represents a cleansing spirit. “Vultures have pretty bad reputations. They have that stigma, associated with death, and with eating dead things. That makes them interesting.”— Amelia Bird