The 6-year-old bird held an unblinking three-year vigil over the Pilot Butte water tower, descending only to haul roadkill.
BEND, Ore. — A 6-year-old turkey vulture who spent three years holding an unblinking, sacred vigil atop the Pilot Butte water tower died Tuesday of complications from a partially digested wiper blade.
Taking his post in 2023, the vulture assumed the heavy burden of staring intensely at the adjacent Shell station while hunched like a brooding gargoyle. He rarely abandoned his watch, descending only to fulfill the solemn duty of dragging a flattened raccoon into the middle of Greenwood Avenue. He survived two brutal winters, a nearby fireworks display, and the resurfacing of the tower’s eastern flank, during which he simply hopped three feet to the left and resumed his terrifying observation.
He didn't ask for the responsibility, he just looked down on us all with total, motionless judgment.
He is survived by a mate currently circling a dead gopher on Highway 97, and a terrifyingly large pile of regurgitated bones on the municipal catwalk.