A little birdie told me that they easily saw more than 60 turkey vultures flying over St. George two evenings ago. That birdie was my good friend April Olson.
St. George is in far southern Utah, in case you weren’t aware.
Adult Turkey Vulture on an old wooden fence – Nikon D500, f7.1, 1/800, ISO 400, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light, not baited
April knows I get excited when the Turkey Vultures come back from their wintering grounds. She gets excited too!
It might seem strange for people who have Turkey Vultures year-round to see me get so excited about them arriving back in this state. They aren’t the most beautiful birds, but they are incredible at what they do. These vultures are Nature’s cleanup crew!
I adore seeing Turkey Vultures waking up from their nighttime roosts and stretching their wings and thermoregulating on cool spring mornings. I also enjoy seeing these vultures on the wing, scanning the ground below them, searching for breakfast. I’ll photograph them each and every time I am presented with the opportunity to do so.
Turkey Vultures can be challenging to photograph because it can be hard to get the exposure of their dark plumage just right without being so bright as to overexpose their ivory-white bills. I like challenges though.
I hope to see a Turkey Vulture or two, or ten in my viewfinder soon!
Life is good.
Mia
Click here to view more of my Turkey Vulture photos plus facts and information about this species.
The Turkey Vulture above was photographed an April 8, 2020 in northern Utah.
Vultures generally, and turkey vultures specifically, always conjure up images of what some dinosaurs might have looked like 70 million years ago. Considering how valuable vultures are to nature…one can truthfully say that beauty is only skin deep. Nice shot. Thanks Mia.
When I lived closer to the Bighorn Mountains, would see them all the time. They would roost in the big cotton wood trees across from our place. Miss seeing them and hearing the wings flap around as they moved on the tree branches. Not sure why I never took any photos of them over the years. I guess more into photos of the deer, elk, and moose.
I really envy you your vultures – and rather a lot of other birds too.
Haha, I did have fun watching them circle and gain altitude over the city. And then to see one as we were pulling into our home in Salt Lake the next day! I was surprised by how many people wandering the desert garden did not notice them or if they did thought the vultures were crows. I had several people stop and ask me what I was taking photos of, when they saw the birds they said “ah crows”. I was educating those who were interested about what the birds were, where they were coming from and going to. About how neat the vultures are and important to habitats. I had a big group of teen polygamists who were very interested in what I was saying and they asked very good questions. I was surprised how little they knew even though they lived with vultures as part of their Hildale community. I think I sparked some new “converts” to liking vultures.