URBAN ALPENGLOW AND A COMMITTEE

The sun is rising north of east now. It's still cold enough in the mornings to wear two wool sweaters biking in.

A soaring vulture catches my eye above the cottage-like single story houses in a lovely and old neighborhood I ride through each morning.

There is an urban alpenglow here in this City of Trees. It's a collaboration between the white-barked sycamores and the rising or setting sun.

I watch this vulture soar above this glowing, morning sycamore. No leaves yet. (But the orange of these leaves half a year from now against the sunny blue sky is another part of the sycamore's contribution to the urban alpenglow).

I'm surprised to see the two trees are hosting not just this one newly landed vulture, but 11 very large, dark brown and hunched shouldered birds with peeks of red here and there.

I'm used to seeing shiny black crows gather in trees like this but haven't seen this with vultures.

I just googled the name for a bunch of vultures: a kettle when in flight, a committee when in a tree, a wake when feasting together.