Turkey vultures are large, dark brown birds with bald, red heads and pale bills with white tips.
On my first trip to Tishomingo National Wildlife Refuge, I was delighted to take some Turkey Vulture images, where I had also photographed Black Vultures.
I wandered around Tishomingo Wildlife Management Unit yesterday morning. It was gorgeous and peaceful! I know I will go back to explore it again soon.
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.
Today is International Vulture Awareness Day 2023. I admit to having a soft spot for vultures because they are often misunderstood, and because I tend to stand up for those who have no voice.
I took my first Turkey Vulture images of the season two days ago. That is later than usual for me, but this spring hasn't been normal at all.
I took this photo of a Turkey Vulture with its bill wide open exactly a year ago today on a warm spring morning in far northern Utah under the bright sun.
The first Saturday of September is International Vulture Awareness Day which is a day to bring awareness to these birds that face a range of threats.
This post with an image of my first of year Turkey Vulture is about 16 days late because I actually spotted this vulture on April 1st way up in northern Utah.
Yesterday I found an adult Turkey Vulture perched on a metal pipe with a field of sunflowers below and it behind it. I liked the pop of yellow in my photos of this bird.
The last bird I photographed high in the Wasatch Mountains three days ago was an adult Turkey Vulture perched in an aspen in a smoky haze.
Yesterday morning I was able to photograph a spring Turkey Vulture warming up in the morning light from a rural road in Box Elder County.
Yesterday afternoon I received an email from the UBird Google group with a first of the year Turkey Vulture sighting and that got me excited.
In April there was a bright, sunny morning when I had several opportunities to photograph adult Turkey Vultures warming up after a chilly night by thermoregulating.
Mornings have still been fairly chilly here in northern Utah and the Turkey Vultures that recently arrived on spring migration have been taking advantage of the rising sun by thermoregulating to help chase off the chill.
The memories of photographing this Turkey Vulture that spring morning have made me feel excited because these vultures are heading north now and soon I will have them in my viewfinder again.
I don't have many decent photos of immature Turkey Vultures so when I spotted several of them 11 days ago in northern Utah I was excited but my hopes for good light on the hatch year birds were dashed by clouds.
I haven't had many Turkey Vultures in my viewfinder since they returned on spring migration this year so I was happy to spot one on Saturday morning that I could photograph.
I'm itching to get back out into the field because I want to see my first of the year Turkey Vultures on the wing.
I miss seeing and photographing Turkey Vultures during the winter and now I am excited that very soon I'll be seeing them roosting on fence posts, rocky outcroppings, cattle gates, trees, corrals and the ground, riding the thermals, thermoregulating and scarfing up road kill all over the place!
These autumn Turkey Vulture portraits are among the most difficult images I have ever taken because I was holding my breath and retching while I took them due to the awful odor of a road-killed skunk below the bird.
As a bird photographer I have found that it is easy to make any species of owl look interesting and appealing in my images but it is more of a challenge to do that with Turkey Vultures but that doesn't mean I don't try. I will always try.
I grew up calling Turkey Vultures by the name "Turkey Buzzards" and every once in a blue moon I still unintentionally slip and call them by their nickname instead of their proper common name.
When the third Turkey Vulture lifted off I expected it to go north like the other two vultures had but instead it flew south and very close to where I was at the side of the road in a vehicle being used as a mobile blind, almost too close.
When I photographed this adult Turkey Vulture in northern Utah last year it wasn't alone, there were several other vultures roosting near it that morning on fence posts and a locked gate and I took a lot of images of all of them.
Two days ago I saw a sign I hadn't seen before and it had me laughing out loud, the sign simply said "Carrion Cafe" in an area that earlier in the year may have had a Turkey Vulture hanging around or soaring overhead.
Vultures are fascinating birds and they are great for the environments around the globe that they are found in, we need to do more to help them today and every day.
Normally I prefer natural perches for my subjects but I rather enjoyed photographing these Turkey Vultures and thinking of them as feathered gatekeepers.
I took way too many images of several approachable roadside Turkey Vultures sunning, preening, scratching and resting but I am happy with the photos of the birds.
Yesterday morning was bright and sunny and I had fun photographing Turkey Vultures at a corral, a hillside Canada Goose and a Red-tailed Hawk flying over with nesting materials in northern Utah.
It wasn't "partly sunny" as predicted but I enjoyed myself while photographing the Turkey Vulture and Red-tailed Hawks on a foggy morning even though it tested my skills and techniques.