And I enjoyed the hell out of it. Turkey Vultures have been gone for far too long and I’ve missed having them around.
1/2000, f/6.3, ISO 800, Canon 7D Mark II, Canon EF 500mm f/4L IS II USM + EF 1.4 III Extender, not baited, set up or called in
I’m very limited where I can go these days so yesterday morning I ventured out into a remote area of northern Utah. Turkey Vultures were my reward. This one and a buddy of “his” were perched at the corner of a decrepit old fence. They were wary of my pickup when I first approached but…
1/1250, f/7.1, ISO 500, Canon 7D Mark II, Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM @ 400mm, not baited, set up or called in
they soon settled down into some typical Turkey Vulture behavior.
1/1600, f/7.1, ISO 500, Canon 7D Mark II, Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM @ 164mm, not baited, set up or called in
This personal hygiene-challenged bird was perched just a few feet away from the first one.
1/1250, f/7.1, ISO 500, Canon 7D Mark II, Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM @ 164 mm, not baited, set up or called in
I backed off with my smaller zoom lens for a few shots that included both vultures but I’ll be damned if I could get both birds to look my way at the same time.
1/1600, f/7.1, ISO 500, Canon 7D Mark II, Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM @ 400mm, not baited, set up or called in
At one point this vulture struck some pretty unique head and neck poses. It may look like he was in the process of preening but that wasn’t the case – he seemed to be looking at my pickup the entire time. I had to wonder if it was some form of parallaxing unique to vultures but that’s only a guess..
1/1600, f/7.1, ISO 500, Canon 7D Mark II, Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM @ 400mm, not baited, set up or called in
At one point his shenanigans very nearly caused him to fall off his perch.
1/1250, f/9, ISO 500, Canon 7D Mark II, Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM @ 400mm, not baited, set up or called in
We found these two vultures further down the road. For those readers like me who are so neurotic you simply have to know what the metal sign says before you can move on…
here’s a “flipped” version of the same image to make it easier to read. Flipping the photo makes it look very different doesn’t it. I purposely included my copyright watermark in the flipping process so its “mirror image” effect could be even better appreciated.
Flipping a photo makes it look different enough from the original that cheaters in photo contests sometimes use the technique to make their cheating less obvious. I was once inadvertantly drawn into just such a controversy and it wasn’t any fun. A local bird photographer (I’ll call him “Donald”) entered a national wildlife photo contest and one of his images won first place. But the contest had rules limiting where photos that were entered in the contest could be taken and Donald’s photo didn’t qualify for the contest because it was taken elsewhere.
But Donald lied about where his photo was taken. Other photographers including yours truly took almost identical photos of the same birds at the same time but Donald used several deceptive and dishonest techniques to disguise where and when his photo was taken, including flipping the image, and his photo won first place in the contest. By the time contest organizers and sponsors discovered the deception the cash prize had already been awarded and they apparently believed it was too late to do much of anything about it.
The end result – Donald was awarded first place and basked in the national limelight and the second place photographer from Wyoming who had entered a beautiful porcupine image was robbed of both the prestige and the $5000 first place prize. There’s much more to the story but at this point at least I’m just not prepared to fully open that can of worms in public.
But here’s my point. Flipping a photo can make it look so different from the original as to be almost unrecognizable, especially when the photo has less symmetry than this one.
Ron
.
thanks for the great photographs
as for tv hygiene, their poop is next to sterile and they often poop on themselves to use as a coolant on a hot day.
their poop also works as a sanitizer because it contains so much acid.
I so love these birds.
I can think of a more perfect being in the whole world.
smart. loving. best nose in all of birddom. stopping the spread of many diseases including anthrax and rabies.
and they are incredible flyers.
A wonderful series of images – well done.
Stay well up there.
Thank you, Gary. You too.
This morning the vultures were circling my rotten PC. They didn’t land but came very bloody close.
Vultures are yet another of ‘your’ birds which I envy, and love seeing.
I still couldn’t read that sign though.
You’ve sure had a lot of ‘puter problems lately, EC. Not many things are more aggravating.
The sign says “Sheehan” – apparently the name of the rancher.
I am so over the puter issues. They cause my psycho bitch from hell to emerge with her (poisoned) fangs bared.
Thanks for the sign update.
I must admit, your photos make me appreciate the beauty of Turkey Vultures more than I ever have; even their heads are appealing in a weird way.
At least the birds don’t seem to be bothered by the ridiculous jumble of barbed wire strung on the posts.
I’m confused: why aren’t we seeing the front of the birds in the flipped version?😏
“I’m confused: why aren’t we seeing the front of the birds in the flipped version?”
Ha, for just a second I didn’t realize you were kidding and thought I’d have to try to explain it!
Yea, I don’t think there is an emoji that expresses my dumb humor.
Turkey Vultures are among my favorite birds fo many reasons. They are very curious and intelligent birds and despite their habits, they usually have fewer external parasites (lice, hippobosid flies, etc.) than most songbirds. My love of vultures started nearly 50 years ago when I worked with a wildlife biologist observing a nest. Twice during growth of the young we measured and weighed the young birds. (Something I would never do now. At that time I wasn’t aware of possible imprinting to humans because of smell.) The first time, when the chicks were only a couple of days old, the female left the nest and circled a few feet over our heads. She landed a few feet away and carefully watched as we put the chicks back in the nest. Thereafter, she stepped to one side whenever we approached the nest to observe. The chicks were very fiesty but the adults never made threats so long as we kept our distance. A very different experiencee than being anywhere near a Goshawk nest.
Flipping an image can be used for a good purpose (but I’ve no intent to defend anyone who uses it to deceive others). I know of two painters who always look at their paintings in a mirror before completing it. Doing so allows them to see potential “flaws” or distractions in their image that they have otherwise ignored. This allows them to see their painting in a different way before they complete. There is no intent to deceive. It’s like writing. Others see minor errors that we pass over because know what we wanted to say and read right over small typos or omissions.
That’s an interesting technique your two painter acquaintances use, Dan. I’ve never heard of it but your explanation for their motivation makes perfect sense.
A somewhat similar trick for writers is to read their work aloud. Errors and glitches that are invisible on the computer screen become blatantly obvious when read aloud.
They truly are stunning birds! Absolutely gorgeous! I have a great affinity for vultures and condors, probably a good thing considering our state bird. Thank you for sharing these. Seeing all that sunshine is wonderful. We’re supposed to have constant rain all day today.
And as for “Donald,” I hope he has to, shall we say, “expose his vulnerabilities” out in the field and gets it in the nether regions from a porcupine! Or maybe some fire ants. Or both. Both is good. 😈
Thanks, Marty. Actually we’re in a spell of good weather. It’s been a long time coming…
Beautiful shots, what a fun day. I actually like the flipped version more.
Thanks, April.
We are lucky enough to have a lot TV’s year round. While hiking the other day up on a bluff that over looks a lake one landed in a tree right in front of me❗️Not sure who scared who most❗️As they say, only a face a mother could love😁
Every time I see them above, I look up and tell em I’m not ready yet😆
HATE CHEATERS… enough said.
Stay safe all
You are lucky, Diana. I usually have to travel quite a distance to see them.
The vultures are back here in the desert but while I’m staying home I only see them when they are in or over the wash behind my house. Without a doubt the vultures are the kings of the sky. I enjoy watching them in the thermals getting higher and higher until I can no longer see them. Many thanks for populating my current vulture vacancy. This series of photos is one of my favorites. You are truly a miracle worker!
“vultures are the kings of the sky”
When it comes to soaring ability they certainly are, Pat. Thank you.
As Everett notes, vultures LOVE the Prescott area. There’s a particular
completely white pine snag where one could regularly count 20+ perched
and
“unfurling their capes” to the morning sun– what a wonderful sight!
““unfurling their capes”. I like that.
WONDERFUL shots!! Like you, I’m DELIGHTED to have my vultures back!!! I’m HOPING the one who played with Cody (my Brittany Goofball Gooberdoodle) returns OR returns to the game of making Cody chase hum repeatedly across my back yard like s/he did last year. That was too funny and repeated too many times to be just a fluke!
I absolutely LOVE vultures! One summer while working with On The Wing Again, the imprinted black vulture, Alexander (who always needed to be the star of the show) courted me throughout a weeks long show near Dallas. I felt SO honored and tried to reciprocate his dance. Of course, my body doesn’t move like that, but I did my best. Wonderful memories, but we soon learned that it was unwise to wear sandals around him! The guy who robbed him from his nest fed him a hot dog diet, so anything that resembled a hot dog was vulnerable as a snack 😉 What a wonderful bird he was–a real character, despite his imprint history.
Also like you, I have that compulsive (obsessive) mind that MUST read any word it encounters wherever it is!! I appreciate your flip but I’m skilled at reading words however they present themselves–backward, upside down, whatever.
Our governor just recently closed down hair salons, massage parlors and tattoo shops–just last weeks. While the Grand Canyon is now closed, most other hiking trails are open.
As for the cheating butthead (to be polite) well, you know the expletives I’d use to describe his dishonesty.
And thanks for yesterday’s images of the rufous redtail girl. She’s a stunner! I hope she’s out there sitting on eggs, doing the Zen of Incubation with her mate!! I’m going to believe that.
“I have that compulsive (obsessive) mind that MUST read any word it encounters wherever it is”
Yup, that’s me too, Laura. And it’s particularly aggravating because my eyesight has deteriorated with age. Even with my reading glasses I have to keep a magnifying glass in both my kitchen and at my computer to assist me. CEO’s of companies who print cooking directions on their products that are so small us old folks can’t read them should be shot at sunrise. Or before. And then the vultures can deal with the leftovers. Vultures don’t need no damned recipe…
The turkey vultures have returned to the Ag Station in Reno, too. The other day, my wife and I spotted over a dozen of them soaring together, and accompanied by at least one red-tailed hawk they seemed happy to share the sky with. It was a wonderful experience.
Excellent vulture series Ron. We have a couple snag trees here near our Granite Mountain where they all gather in the morning to do their warm-ups. At times I have seen more than twenty there. They do their warm ups and then head out for their daily clean-up chores.
Really interesting about “Donald” and the whole scam of cheating to win photo contests. How does a cheater live with that guilt? The guy had to have countless friends calling him or e-mailing him to congratulate him on his great photo etc, If I did that here in our small city of Prescott and won a national photo contest they would probably do a write-up in our local paper and even more people would be congratulating me. How the hell can people live with that?
“How the hell can people live with that?”
Very good question, Everett. I guess some folks have no conscience at all. Personally I wouldn’t be able to sleep at night and that’s no exaggeration.
That 1st photo is one of the nicest I’ve ever seen of a Turkey Vulture! I love the looks of them even though they are not considered “purty”. This was a great group of photos.
Thanks very much, Joanne. I like that first one a lot too.
That questionable hygiene reminds me of the Mexican Broadtail Grackles around here. S/he who has highest rank gets highest branch in the trees. And you know poop rolls down in any organization..
If I were one of those grackles I’d want to be a general…
Me too!! Some of them look like they have stripes!
Nice series! They did give you a variety of poses to capture. Got to feel for the ‘personal hygiene-challenged’ bird though…sort of reminded me of ‘Pig-Pen’ …he just couldn’t help it but I do wonder how he got that way! 🙂 I really like the ‘warming in the sun’ pose here.
“I do wonder how he got that way”
I wondered the same thing, Kathy. But poop on feathers is pretty common in vultures so I suspect it’s the result of them deliberately pooping on their own legs and feet as they’re known to do for cooling purposes. When they do that in a group I suspect it can get messy.
These are some mighty fine vulture images Ron. Those rich brown tones really show off in this light and some fine facial focus and poses.Glad you were able to get out and find some nice action, hope it stays that way for you
“hope it stays that way for you”
I hope it does too Dave but that’s probably highly unlikely. So far our governor is resisting locking us fully down like so many other states but that may change. And I think it probably should, even though it would keep me from getting out to the few places still available to me.
Beautiful birds, Ron! 🙂 Even with their “ugly” heads the rich browns of their body and wings is wonderful! 🙂 Don’t know that I’ve ever seen one?? The one turning to look at you does look like it’s preening….. I love how they stretch their wings out to catch the warming rays of the morning sun.
The “jerks” (to be nice) that cheat in contests and other places are infuriating – always those in all area to whom winning is everything no matter what they have to do to “win”. Prime example is our current “dear leader”…….. 🙁
“Don’t know that I’ve ever seen one?? ”
I never saw one on the Montana farm that I remember either, Judy. Looking at their range map in Sibley our area in MT is just about the only place in the entire lower 48 where they’re considered “rare”.
Loved the pictures Ron and open your email every day. While not an expert birder, I am a long-time birder and learn lots from you. I live in the middle of the Napa Valley and am surrounded by vineyards — not mine unfortunately. There are many turkey vultures. Over the years I have watched them soar, congregate in my yard, sit on vineyard stakes with wings stretched out, saw a group of them intimidating a red tailed hawk with its kill until it took off, and recently one was sitting on one end of the roof of our small rental with a Great Blue Heron sitting on the other end. That was comical.
I’m glad to know you’re “out there”, Laurie. Thank you.