{"id":111932,"date":"2023-04-01T03:54:07","date_gmt":"2023-04-01T09:54:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=111932"},"modified":"2023-04-01T06:14:07","modified_gmt":"2023-04-01T12:14:07","slug":"turkey-vulture-with-an-open-bill","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2023\/04\/01\/turkey-vulture-with-an-open-bill\/","title":{"rendered":"Turkey Vulture With An Open Bill"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>I took this photo of a Turkey Vulture with its bill wide open exactly a year ago today on a warm spring morning in far northern Utah under the bright sun. Earlier in the morning I had taken photos of my first of year Turkey Vulture in golden light.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"lazyload aligncenter wp-image-111929 size-full\" title=\"Turkey Vulture with an open bill\" src=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/turkey-vulture-open-bill-mia-mcpherson-9339.jpg\" data-orig-src=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/turkey-vulture-open-bill-mia-mcpherson-9339.jpg\" alt=\"Turkey Vulture with an open bill, Box Elder County, Utah\" width=\"900\" height=\"643\" srcset=\"data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns%3D%27http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2000%2Fsvg%27%20width%3D%27900%27%20height%3D%27643%27%20viewBox%3D%270%200%20900%20643%27%3E%3Crect%20width%3D%27900%27%20height%3D%27643%27%20fill-opacity%3D%220%22%2F%3E%3C%2Fsvg%3E\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/turkey-vulture-open-bill-mia-mcpherson-9339-200x143.jpg 200w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/turkey-vulture-open-bill-mia-mcpherson-9339-250x179.jpg 250w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/turkey-vulture-open-bill-mia-mcpherson-9339-300x214.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/turkey-vulture-open-bill-mia-mcpherson-9339-400x286.jpg 400w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/turkey-vulture-open-bill-mia-mcpherson-9339-600x429.jpg 600w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/turkey-vulture-open-bill-mia-mcpherson-9339-768x549.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/turkey-vulture-open-bill-mia-mcpherson-9339-800x572.jpg 800w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/turkey-vulture-open-bill-mia-mcpherson-9339.jpg 900w\" data-sizes=\"auto\" data-orig-sizes=\"(max-width: 900px) 100vw, 900px\" \/><span style=\"color: #808080;\">Turkey Vulture with an open bill \u2013 Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/1250, ISO 640, +0.7 EV, Nikkor 640mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n<p>While this light wasn&#8217;t golden when I took this Turkey Vulture&#8217;s photo I liked this photo because of the open bill of the vulture. It looked like the bird had something to say. A few things came to my mind when I looked at this image.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>What this Turkey Vulture might say if it could speak:<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>I just flew in from Dallas, and man, are my wings tired.<\/li>\n<li>Hello, GrubHub, I need a delivery.<\/li>\n<li>Stop snowing!!!!<\/li>\n<li>I&#8217;m done speaking, carrion.<\/li>\n<li>I never learned how to cook, but I sure know how to clean up after someone else&#8217;s meal!<\/li>\n<li>I don&#8217;t always scavenge, but when I do, I prefer something aged and rotten.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The Turkey Vulture wasn&#8217;t making any sound, which is typical for this species as they are mostly silent. Prior to striking this pose, the vulture appeared as though it was going to regurgitate something, but it didn&#8217;t.<\/p>\n<p>I found a lot of birds to photograph one year ago this morning, this <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Turkey_vulture\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Turkey Vulture<\/span><\/a> was just one of them. I haven&#8217;t yet seen my first of year Turkey Vulture because gray skies have kept me at home. Today I looked at the long range forecast and I think that after a slightly snowy start to April by the end of next week I should be seeing more sunshine. That will have me dancing for joy.<\/p>\n<p>Life <em>is<\/em> good.<\/p>\n<p>Mia<\/p>\n<p>Click <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/turkey-vulture-images\/\">here<\/a><\/span> to view more of my Turkey Vulture photos plus facts and information about this species.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I took this photo of a Turkey Vulture with its bill wide open exactly a year ago today on a warm spring morning in far northern Utah under the bright sun.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":111929,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27,1148,1315,26],"tags":[4004,4322,4098,2127,4104,4394,11852,165,2443,4618,4617,8917],"class_list":["post-111932","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-avian","category-box-elder-county-utah","category-turkey-vultures","category-utah","tag-adult","tag-cathartes-aura","tag-desert","tag-open-bill","tag-perched","tag-post","tag-ranchlands","tag-spring","tag-turkey-vulture","tag-vulture","tag-vultures","tag-wooden-post"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/turkey-vulture-open-bill-mia-mcpherson-9339.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-t7m","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":45763,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2017\/03\/25\/cooperative-first-of-year-turkey-vulture\/","url_meta":{"origin":111932,"position":0},"title":"Cooperative First of Year Turkey Vulture","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"March 25, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"I was pleased to see and photograph my first of the year Turkey Vulture perched on a fence post next to a road yesterday in northern Utah.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Birds&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Turkey Vulture with open bill, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/turkey-vulture-yawn-mia-mcpherson-8448.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/turkey-vulture-yawn-mia-mcpherson-8448.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/turkey-vulture-yawn-mia-mcpherson-8448.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/turkey-vulture-yawn-mia-mcpherson-8448.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":46813,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2017\/05\/17\/turkey-vultures-feathered-gatekeepers\/","url_meta":{"origin":111932,"position":1},"title":"Turkey Vultures &#8211; Feathered Gatekeepers","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"May 17, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Normally I prefer natural perches for my subjects but I rather enjoyed photographing these Turkey Vultures and thinking of them as feathered gatekeepers.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Birds&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Turkey Vulture preening a single feather, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/turkey-vulture-preening-mia-mcpherson-0316.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/turkey-vulture-preening-mia-mcpherson-0316.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/turkey-vulture-preening-mia-mcpherson-0316.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/turkey-vulture-preening-mia-mcpherson-0316.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":34731,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2016\/01\/07\/a-turkey-vulture-in-box-elder-county\/","url_meta":{"origin":111932,"position":2},"title":"Turkey Vulture in Box Elder County &#8211; Nature&#8217;s Picker Uppers","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"January 7, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"When I photographed this Turkey Vulture in Box Elder County last summer it flew from the post it had been perched on and landed a bit further away where it quickly began cleaning its bill","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Birds&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"An adult Turkey Vulture in Box Elder County perched on a post by a watering trough. Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/turkey-vulture-box-elder-mia-mcpherson-5101.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/turkey-vulture-box-elder-mia-mcpherson-5101.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/turkey-vulture-box-elder-mia-mcpherson-5101.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/turkey-vulture-box-elder-mia-mcpherson-5101.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":82579,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2021\/03\/28\/spring-turkey-vulture-and-a-view-from-the-road\/","url_meta":{"origin":111932,"position":3},"title":"Spring Turkey Vulture And A View From The Road","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"March 28, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Yesterday morning I was able to photograph a spring Turkey Vulture warming up in the morning light from a rural road in Box Elder County.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Birds&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Spring Turkey Vulture warming up in morning light, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/turkey-vulture-spring-mia-mcpherson-0751.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/turkey-vulture-spring-mia-mcpherson-0751.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/turkey-vulture-spring-mia-mcpherson-0751.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/turkey-vulture-spring-mia-mcpherson-0751.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":52571,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2018\/06\/13\/photographing-turkey-vultures-on-a-june-morning\/","url_meta":{"origin":111932,"position":4},"title":"Photographing Turkey Vultures On A June Morning","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"June 13, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"As a bird photographer I have found that it is easy to make any species of owl look interesting and appealing in my images but it is more of a challenge to do that with Turkey Vultures but that doesn't mean I don't try. I will always try.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Birds&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Turkey Vulture in front of a sage covered hillside, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/turkey-vulture-sage-fence-post-mia-mcpherson-1411.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/turkey-vulture-sage-fence-post-mia-mcpherson-1411.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/turkey-vulture-sage-fence-post-mia-mcpherson-1411.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/turkey-vulture-sage-fence-post-mia-mcpherson-1411.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":58610,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2019\/06\/17\/june-turkey-vulture\/","url_meta":{"origin":111932,"position":5},"title":"June Turkey Vulture","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"June 17, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"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.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Birds&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Adult Turkey Vulture on a June morning, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/turkey-vulture-lichen-rocks-mia-mcpherson-2749.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/turkey-vulture-lichen-rocks-mia-mcpherson-2749.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/turkey-vulture-lichen-rocks-mia-mcpherson-2749.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/turkey-vulture-lichen-rocks-mia-mcpherson-2749.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/111932","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=111932"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/111932\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/111929"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=111932"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=111932"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=111932"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}