Little Vultures

This morning we had an exciting walk at our favorite park. First, when we got there we were greeted by a deer and her two fawns. They fled as fast as they could once Rodney's battlecry hit the airwaves and he threatened to have them all for breakfast. Thanks, Monsterman - nice going !We then went down towards the observation platform to check the water level of the Potomac. Last time we went there, it was alarmingly low and the sewage and run-off from the neighborhood streets were quite visible. This sight gets to me every time I go there and it makes the pleasure of viewing the beautiful scenery only half as enjoyable.
On our way we could see some young vultures sitting on the reling that surrounds the platform:Two little dots in the center of the picture - barely visible. I wanted to try to get some close ups of the two birds and that meant I had to leave Tessa and Rodney behind, because they were going to spoil the pictures for me. Tessa hates vultures with a passion and goes ballistic when she smells one. Rodney the same. So I grab Bicalina and together we zig-zag towards the vultures who sit unsuspecting on their lookout.
All in a sudden all hell is breaking lose behind me and I see Rui struggling with two highly excited dogs barking on top of their lungs. A herd of deer was racing across the meadow right in front of them, coming seemingly out of nowhere........ So much for taking pics of vultures, right ?
Wrong. Those guys seem to be fairly young and dumb, or simply unflappable. They stood their ground and let me sneak up on them even further:The dots are getting bigger. They still didn't seem to mind my presence and so I sneaked up on them a bit further and here are the results:

Kind of curious but not too concerned.......(However - I used the zoom on this one)
Getting closer. . .Checking us out.Finally they had to make a decision if they wanted to be tame birds, or if they wanted to continue to live in the wild. The chose latter.


**As always: Clicking on the images will show them in their original size **