TV

TV is short for turkey vulture - Cathartes aura.

Probably more closely related  to storks instead of birds of prey this is one of the few that has a developed sense of smell.  All the better to locate roadkill I suppose.

It has a bald head - an adaptation that reduces the risk of catching a disease from rotting carcasses.

They're pretty common around here - usually soaring in the warm updrafts on a summer day.

click on image to enlarge

I spotted this TV hopping about in the road the other day while running to town on an errand.  Stopped to take his picture with my Blackberry and caught a whiff of something bad.

Probably a car-killed deer in the ditch.

But I wasn't going to go poking about to verify it.