My reference for the main bird in this "Sketchbook Cleveland" was a photo I took of Mathilda, a longtime resident of the Medina Raptor Center. She was taken to the raptor center years ago as a chick and became a human imprint, so she thinks we're all vultures. She's very likely to misbehave when you're in her cage, nipping at your shins or trying to bite any exposed flesh, just for the hell of it, though I can't help but think it's because she wants the interaction. It's annoying and yet endearing.
She now shares a big cage with a turkey vulture named Paris, who was taken in with head and other injuries after a Cleveland cop found kids beating the bird (a youngster at the time) with sticks. Paris is lovely, too, if brain damaged. Then there are two juvenile turkey vultures at the center, which were all white fluff balls (like the smaller vulture illustrated below) when I first met them. When we go into their cage, they circle around our feet like puppies and try to untie our shoe laces. They remind me of the cartoon magpies from Heckle and Jeckle.
Tuesday, March 15, is technically Buzzard Day, when folks in Hinckley watch the skies to celebrate the return of buzzards to the ledges and parks in the township. However, to truly celebrate the carrion-eaters, one must go to the Cleveland Metroparks Hinckley Reservation on Sunday, March 20 (9 am to 2 pm) to eat pancakes and visit the park where buzzards do indeed flock in really large numbers. This event includes a theatrical homage to the legend of the Hinckley turkey vultures. It's always colder than a witch's, um, cocktail, and yet it's also a rite of spring. Yours truly will be there, probably with Mathilda and perhaps Paris.
