true charisma

•





Charismatic.

Owls may be wise. Well, none that I have personally known have been all that wise. But vultures? That’s another story.

One look into their inquisitive brown eyes and you know there's a thinking brain inside that scruffy, bald noggin.

One of the perks of working at Ijams Nature Center is the turkey vulture we adopted. She was hit by a dump truck in western North Carolina and went through rehab at the American Eagle Foundation in Pigeon Forge. It took so long for her to heal that she became people friendly. Having lost her wildness and hunting skills, she imprinted on her human caregivers. Oh, she does not think that she's human or anything like that. She knows she's superior. We're her acolytes. She grunts her approval like a queen dowager when we bring her meals. Dead things. You really would not want to know the details.

She came to Ijams over three years ago. We’ll take care of her the rest of her life. But that's a privilege. She's clever and curious and courteous, dare I say, even charismatic. Yes, she has oodles of personality, nothing like an owl.

•