Show some respect for the under-appreciated turkey vulture

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The annual Buzzard Day festival at Reed Bingham State Park near Adel in southwest Georgia celebrates the much maligned vulture.

Jennifer Glover, a staff member of Reed Bingham State Park near Adel, shows off a turkey vulture during the park's annual Buzzard Day. It was a day of a appreciation for the much-maligned bird.

Turkey vultures roost along the Little River in Reed Bingham State Park and prepare to head into the countryside in search of carrion or other food. The birds, when frightened, will regurgitate a foul-smelling concoction.

A turkey vulture roosting at the park near Adel spreads its wings to warm up with the sun's rays before it heads out for a day of foraging for food. Both turkey and black vultures congregate by the thousands each winter in and around Reed Bingham park.

A turkey vulture undergoing rehabilitation at the park was part of Buzzard Day activities last weekend.

Vultures were in the news recently, and not in a positive way. Here a vultures rests on Milton City Hall, part of a group of birds that began hanging around the building after a nearby tree, a former roost, was taken down.

A vulture flies near the external tank on the space shuttle Discovery in 2006 at the Kenendy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla. NASA took precautions against the birds after Discovery struck one of the vultures during liftoff.

A turkey vulture in flight. The birds have a face that's hard to love, but our roads and fields would be much smellier places without their help.

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Jennifer Glover, a staff member of Reed Bingham State Park near Adel, shows off a turkey vulture during the park's annual Buzzard Day. It was a day of a appreciation for the much-maligned bird.

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