![\"\"](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/turkey-vulture-6967-ron-dudley.jpg\" "\\"turkey-vulture-6067-ron-dudley\\"")
<\/p>\nAn exaggerated stretching pose if there ever was one.<\/p>\n
On a trip five days ago to the west desert I got my first decent photos of Turkey Vultures this year. Most of them were unremarkable but one vulture gave me an exaggerated stretching pose that I thought was both unusual and interesting. Even appealing.<\/p>\n
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1\/4000, f\/5.6, ISO 800, Canon R5, Canon EF500mm f\/4L IS II USM + 1.4 tc, not baited, set up or called in<\/em><\/p>\n ‘He’ tipped his entire body down at an extreme angle, brought his wings up and forward and raised and flared his tail – all at the same time<\/em>. The position of his tail might suggest that he was about to poop, or had pooped, but it didn’t happen. This was a stretch and nothing more.<\/p>\n It was a leisurely stretch that allowed me to document it with many photos and I even had a good light angle with the rising sun almost directly behind me. The bird’s a little tight in the frame but I was close to him so when he raised his wings, this was all the room I had up top.<\/p>\n I really like the background bokeh and colors and I think his slightly open beak adds a little interest. In other photos his beak was open more but his wings weren’t raised quite as high.<\/p>\n In addition to their unattractive head, vultures typically look more than a little scruffy but I think this guy cleaned up nicely, at least for a vulture. Even his legs and feet are lacking the ‘whitewash’ (staining from uric acid) they usually have on them from deliberately pooping on them as a means of thermoregulation. The uric acid, being an acid, might also work as an antiseptic wash. Given their nasty diet, that might come in handy<\/p>\n But it’s the pose that I found most interesting.<\/p>\n Ron<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" An exaggerated stretching pose if there ever was one.<\/p>\n