Anderson featured on Oregon Field Guide

Sisters naturalist Jim Anderson will be featured in this week's airing of Oregon Field Guide, talking about one of his favorite subjects: turkey vultures.

They're not pretty but they just may be one of the smartest birds in the world. Oregon Field Guide will seek out the turkey vulture on Thursday, April 15 at 8:30 p.m.

Often reviled and feared, most people consider the turkey vulture ordinary at best and repulsive and gross at worst. Not Jim Anderson, who has studied them for years. This retired pilot and Nugget columnist considers the birds "pretty," and vouches for their intelligence.

Vultures are not killers, but scavengers that perform a useful service, helping cleanse the land of dead and rotting carcasses. The field guide crew goes with Anderson in search of the turkey vulture in action. But the quest proves more than they bargained for.