{"id":84239,"date":"2020-04-21T05:23:51","date_gmt":"2020-04-21T11:23:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/?p=84239"},"modified":"2020-04-21T16:10:52","modified_gmt":"2020-04-21T22:10:52","slug":"turkey-vultures-one-landing-one-reacting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/2020\/04\/21\/turkey-vultures-one-landing-one-reacting\/","title":{"rendered":"Turkey Vultures – One Landing, One Reacting"},"content":{"rendered":"

I’m gonna call these two vultures from yesterday morning Frick and Frack. They were hanging around together like they were joined at the… furcula.<\/p>\n

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1\/1000, f\/8, ISO 500, 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

Meet Frick. The two of them hung out together right next to each other on this ranch entrance gate for a very long time. I photographed two vultures on this same gate two weeks ago<\/a><\/span><\/span> and I figure there’s a good chance they were the same two birds. Perhaps they’re even a mated pair.<\/p>\n

This shot was taken after Frack took off from the gate and soared leisurely around for maybe five minutes. Much of the time I didn’t know where “she” was but I’m sure Frick did. Frick was relaxed and here had just completed a rouse. Notice how close Frick is to the end of the gate.<\/p>\n

Soon I noticed that Frack was approaching the gate as if “she” intended to land there again. Frick obviously knew she was coming too but I believe he expected her to land on the far side of him where there was much more room on the gate.<\/p>\n

I took a chance and prefocused on the end of the gate instead of somewhere in the center and hoped I’d get lucky with a landing shot.<\/p>\n

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1\/1600, f\/7.1, ISO 500, 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

And that’s where Frack landed. Frick was startled by her choice of landing spots and had to jump out of her way. Notice that both of his feet are airborne as he hops to his left to avoid the incoming Frack.<\/p>\n

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1\/1600, f\/7.1, ISO 500, 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

Then he hopped to his left once again to give her more room. After this shot was taken they settled in right next to each other as if nothing had happened.<\/p>\n

I was delighted to get that second photo. Landing shots are almost infinitely more difficult to get than takeoff shots for a variety of reasons (someday I should publish a post about those reasons). Think how many takeoff shots of birds we see on the internet compared to landing shots. I’m sure the ratio is at least 100\/1. Here on Feathered Photography I’d wager that my own ratio is more like 200-300\/1.<\/p>\n

For me at least, degree of difficulty matters.<\/p>\n

Ron<\/p>\n

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Notes:<\/p>\n