![\"\"](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/turkey-vulture-2186-ron-dudley.jpg\" "\\"turkey-vulture-2186-ron-dudley\\"")
<\/p>\nYesterday was yet another one of those days when the pre-dawn weather satellite showed no clouds at or near\u00a0my shooting destination but when I arrived there about 2 hours later it was completely socked in with them. So I spent\u00a0much of the morning looking for birds in unexpected\u00a0lousy light.<\/p>\n
One of the few breaks I got all morning was spotting a couple of Turkey Vultures perched close to each other\u00a0on an old fence during a brief window of time when the clouds had thinned just enough to give me some slightly better filtered light.<\/p>\n
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1\/800, f\/6.3, ISO 640, Canon 7D Mark II, Canon EF 500mm f\/4L IS II USM + EF 1.4 III Extender, not baited, set up or called in<\/em><\/p>\n Eventually both of\u00a0the vultures\u00a0took off but at different times\u00a0and they both preceded their launch\u00a0with a slow and\u00a0languorous stretch. During much of the stretch this one’s bill was partially hidden behind the corner of the post and I didn’t have very good eye contact but for a few frames the bird lifted its head so its bill was clear of the post. I think it’s an interesting pose and the light is acceptable.<\/p>\n I still had my teleconverter on when this one took off so I was a little too close optically to get any flight shots I liked. Its angle of takeoff was also less than ideal.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n 1\/1600, f\/7.1, ISO 500, Canon 7D Mark II, Canon EF 500mm f\/4L IS II US, not baited, set up or called in<\/em><\/p>\n The second vulture was perched on a post that was behind part of the fence wire so those stretching shots didn’t work out either but by the time it took off I’d removed my teleconverter so I wasn’t too close\u00a0and I liked its takeoff angle much better.<\/p>\n The\u00a0fence isn’t pretty but I do think it adds some interesting visual elements as the vulture tries to clear it in flight (the first vulture had been perched on the post at the corner of the frame on the far right).<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n 1\/2000, f\/7.1, ISO 500, Canon 7D Mark II, Canon EF 500mm f\/4L IS II US, not baited, set up or called in<\/em><\/p>\n I like the flight posture and the clean, out-of-focus background after it cleared the fence (even though the head is less than tack sharp).<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n 1\/2500, f\/7.1, ISO 500, Canon 7D Mark II, Canon EF 500mm f\/4L IS II US, not baited, set up or called in<\/em><\/p>\n In\u00a0this last shot I dang near clipped the left wing. I could easily add canvas up there to improve the composition but chose not to.<\/p>\n Despite the mostly poor light and\u00a0relatively few high quality photos\u00a0it was an interesting morning for birds and wildlife\u00a0including Golden Eagles, my first close shots of a Short-eared Owl this season, Yellow-bellied Marmot Pups,\u00a0a close Say’s Phoebe\u00a0and several Bald Eagles.<\/p>\n I was a little surprised to see apparent good numbers of Bald Eagles this late in the season. Usually by now most of them would be on their way north (few of them stay in Utah for the breeding season).<\/p>\n Ron<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Despite the mostly poor light it was an interesting morning for birds and wildlife and I did manage to get some vulture photos I like. <\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/turkey-vulture-2239-ron-dudley.jpg\" "\\"turkey-vulture-2239-ron-dudley\\"")
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