Adult Turkey Vulture on a June morning, Box Elder County, UtahAdult Turkey Vulture on a June morning – Nikon D500, f7.1, 1/1600, ISO 640, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light, not baited

I haven’t had many Turkey Vultures in my viewfinder since they returned on spring migration this year so I was happy to spot one on Saturday morning that I could photograph. It was more skittish than I would have liked though because it flew from a close perch on the ground out to some distant lichen-covered rocks away from the road.

I actually like where the Turkey Vulture landed though because it shows some of the habitat I find these birds in. The vulture was about to scratch its head when I took this image. There were gnats and mosquitoes in the area and they seemed to bother this bird almost as as much as they were annoying me.

The only thing I don’t like in this photo is that I can see dried cheat grasses on the rocks because they are invasive, have already become tinder dry, and seeing them reminded me of how combustible cheat grass is compared to native grasses, how our wildfire season has already begun and how awful it could be again this year.

The rest of the photo… I love.

Life is good.

Mia

Click here to view more of my Turkey Vulture photos plus facts and information about this species.