Vulture sighting!

[radiantfracture]

I am reading Emily Wilson's Odyssey translation for the BISR course that begins on Wednesday night.

I'm in Book III just now, when Telemachus is visiting the neighbours for news of his father and hears instead of the fates of Agamemnon and Meneleus. After an evening of talking, Telemachus and Mentes/Athena rise to leave. Nestor insists they stay the night. Athena refuses, making one of her dramatic exits:

bright-eyed Athena flew away, transformed
into an ossifrage.

Now, on further investigation, it seems like ossifrage can refer to several different birds, but the first hit I got was this:

The bearded vulture (Gypaetus barbatus), also known as the lammergeier and ossifrage, is a very large bird of prey in the monotypic genus Gypaetus. The bearded vulture is the only known vertebrate whose diet consists of 70–90% bone. (Wikipedia)

Hi amazing. Bone specialists! So metal.

The bearded vulture doesn't have a bald head, but it does have a fantastically acid stomach. And it's got an amazing kind of glam biker look.

§rf§

Comments

[radiantfracture]

I never thought of them as anything before today. And now I know them under two extremely cool names. Bonebreaker, lamb-scavenger --sounds like a conjuring.

[sovay]

And now I know them under two extremely cool names. Bonebreaker, lamb-scavenger --sounds like a conjuring.

*cough* you should write an incantation *cough*