National Emblem

All Americans know that the magnificent bald eagle is a national emblem. A few of us know that it just barely won the contest. The much-respected Benjamin Franklin argued that our national bird should be the turkey. It's a good thing he lost the debate. Images of turkeys would be much less impressive on warplanes and tanks.                     

Watch The Beak

Another specimen brought out by the folks at the World Bird Sanctuary. I have only a basic idea of what vultures do for a living but we can assume that the beak is built for tearing flesh apart. Better to stay well away, IMHO.                  

Dumpster Diver

The same raven later in the day. Scroll down to understand its task. It not only snatches dollar bills but recycles aluminum as well.                

The Raven Works For Tips

There is a remarkable World Bird Sanctuary on the outskirts of our area. They always bring some flying wonders to Earth Day. Here we have a species of raven that is trained to take money from people's hands and drop it in the donation box. It does not get a percentage of the take. Pretty cool.

It can also fly around a larger area, take aluminum cans from people and drop them in a recycling bin. We'll get to that.