![\"\"](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/turkey-vulture-5012-ron-dudley.jpg\" "\\"turkey-vulture-5012-ron-dudley\\"")
<\/p>\nDon’t be surprised if there’s some down time for Feathered Photography in the fairly near future.<\/p>\n
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1\/3200, 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 Yesterday morning I was finally able to get a few reasonably good shots of a Turkey Vulture, for the first time since they’ve migrated back to northern Utah this year. I’ve seen a few on previous trips to the area but this was the first one I’ve photographed while it was close.\u00a0 I caught ‘him’ in the classic pose of the species while he was thermoregulating in the morning sun. He didn’t vary much from this pose so after a few minutes with him I drove on down the road to look for more birds. But I was pleased to get a few photos and to see a few more vultures in an area where they’ve been common in past years.<\/p>\n I had trouble getting tack sharp shots all morning and if you look carefully it shows in this photo. But the deficiencies in this shot are probably easier to see in comparison to…<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n the first Turkey Vulture I ever photographed up close. In April of 2009 I found this cooperative vulture sunning itself in a clump of trees at Farmington Bay WMA. The vulture was almost too close but I had great light resulting in very good detail and I like the setting, particularly with his head centered between the two tree trunks.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n At this point it’s looking like my primary bird lens may be overdue for some time in the shop. I’m having connectivity issues between my lens and my teleconverter (or between my lens and my camera when I’m not using the tc) which isn’t surprising after all these years of quickly swapping out my teleconverter in the field. That puts a lot of wear and tear on the gold electrical contacts. I can actually see significant wear on the lens contacts when I look closely at them.<\/p>\n I know it isn’t the contacts on the tc because I have two of them, one almost brand new and the other one recently repaired, and the problem occurs whichever one I’m using and if I’m not using a tc at all. The electrical contacts on the camera are highly unlikely to be the culprit because I have two 7D Mark II’s and the problem occurs whichever camera I’m using. Seems to me that pretty much narrows it down to the lens contacts which are clearly worn.<\/p>\n So don’t be surprised if there’s some down time for Feathered Photography sometime fairly soon to allow time for my contacts to be replaced. If it happens the down time may only be sporadic. After all, I do have another birding lens but it’s much smaller so it’s inadequate for birds in many situations.<\/p>\n Ron<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Don’t be surprised if there’s some down time for Feathered Photography in the fairly near future.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/turkey-vulture-1272b-ron-dudley.jpg\" "\\"turkey-vulture-1272b-ron-dudley.\\"")
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