I find vultures in their contemplative mode particularly companionable. Hanging out with vultures is not threatening like being sized up by a large alligator. Sure, vultures are carrion birds, but until you are carrion, they are good company. They are quiet. They stretch their wings. They are expert at finding the best seats in the house.
The black vulture is basal (the earliest offshoot) to a lineage that gave rise to the turkey and greater and lesser yellow-headed vultures, diverging around 12 million years ago.–Wikipedia
