WALNUT CREEK, CA — A 52-year-old turkey vulture celebrated his birthday Saturday with a cake made of watermelon, raw meat, and super worms, because apparently when you are the oldest living member of your species on earth, you can have whatever you want.
Lord Richard, who resides at Lindsay Wildlife Experience on First Avenue overlooking Larkey Park, marked his 52nd birthday with a public party that drew generations of Walnut Creek families who have been visiting him since they were small enough to find a vulture genuinely terrifying rather than endearingly ugly.
The bird hatched in San Francisco in 1974. That is the year Nixon resigned, the year Rubik invented his cube, the year Happy Days premiered. Lord Richard has outlasted all of them, and he has done it from an aviary on First Avenue.
The birthday festivities included educational programs about turkey vultures and their role in the ecosystem — which, for the record, is eating the things nothing else wants to eat, a job that deserves more respect than it gets.
There was also a performance by Bay Area band The Corner Laughers, who wrote an original song called “Lord Richard” in honor of the bird. Whether a turkey vulture can appreciate indie pop is an open question, but the crowd seemed to enjoy it.
Here is the thing about Lord Richard: he is not beautiful. He is a turkey vulture. He has a bald red head and a face that looks like it was designed by committee during a budget crisis. But he has been doing the same job for 52 years — sitting in his aviary, being unapologetically himself, teaching kids that not every animal needs to be cuddly to matter.
After becoming accustomed to the humans who raised him, wildlife experts determined he could not survive in the wild. He joined Lindsay Wildlife, and he has been there ever since, outlasting presidents, cultural trends, and several generations of the squirrels in Larkey Park.
Vultures in the wild typically live 15 to 20 years. Lord Richard has more than doubled that, and the Guinness World Records recognizes him as the oldest known living turkey vulture on the planet. Walnut Creek, of all places, is home to a global record-holder — and he does not even know it. Which is probably for the best. Fame changes people. It apparently does not change vultures.
The celebration ran from 10 to 11 a.m. Saturday at 1931 First Avenue. Cake was served. A song was sung. A vulture with a face only a mother could love turned 52 in the California sun. Not a bad way to spend a morning.
For more information about Lindsay Wildlife Experience and its resident animals, visit lindsaywildlife.org.
