{"id":112763,"date":"2023-04-21T03:09:09","date_gmt":"2023-04-21T09:09:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=112763"},"modified":"2023-04-21T04:21:04","modified_gmt":"2023-04-21T10:21:04","slug":"my-first-of-season-turkey-vulture-images","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2023\/04\/21\/my-first-of-season-turkey-vulture-images\/","title":{"rendered":"My First Of Season Turkey Vulture Images"},"content":{"rendered":"

I took my first Turkey Vulture images of the season two days ago. That is later than usual for me, but this spring hasn’t been normal at all.<\/p>\n

\"FirstFirst of season Turkey Vulture on a lichen covered rock \u2013 Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/800, ISO 400, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

I had seen some Turkey Vultures in flight before taking these photos. The vultures were fairly far away, so I never raised my camera to capture images of them. However, I was delighted to find this vulture perched on a lichen-covered rocky outcropping in a desert habitat.<\/p>\n

I am always happy to see this species because they handle cleaning up some of the smelliest things I find on the roads that I travel. I also enjoy photographing them because their dark plumage makes exposing them properly a challenge.<\/p>\n

\"FirstFirst of season Turkey Vulture in Box Elder County \u2013 Nikon D500, f9, 1\/1000, ISO 500, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

I took two trips down the road and mistakenly thought I had photographed the same bird on the same perch until I got home. When I previewed my images of the Turkey Vulture, I realized it had moved between my trips up and down the road.<\/p>\n

There are several old, rundown buildings off of the road I took to photograph this Turkey Vulture<\/span><\/a>. I always wonder if the vultures nest in those old barns and houses. It would be terrific to have access to the buildings to see if they do nest in them but those rundown buildings are on private land.<\/p>\n

Unlike the dark plumage of the adults, the hatchlings of Turkey Vultures are snow white. It would be fun to photograph them together. Maybe one day I will find some young vultures to photograph.<\/p>\n

Life is<\/em> good.<\/p>\n

Mia<\/p>\n

Click here<\/a><\/span> to view more of my Turkey Vulture photos plus facts and information about this species.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I took my first Turkey Vulture images of the season two days ago. That is later than usual for me, but this spring hasn’t been normal at all.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":112757,"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":[4004,4322,4098,6242,3291,9979,8083,4063,4156,4470,5699,165,2443,4618,4617],"class_list":["post-112763","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-first-of-season","tag-lichen","tag-lichens","tag-outcropping","tag-raptor","tag-resting","tag-rocks","tag-rocky","tag-spring","tag-turkey-vulture","tag-vulture","tag-vultures"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/turkey-vulture-first-of-season-mia-mcpherson-9334.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-tkL","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":60294,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2019\/09\/18\/immature-turkey-vultures-in-northern-utah\/","url_meta":{"origin":112763,"position":0},"title":"Immature Turkey Vultures In Northern Utah","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"September 18, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"I don't have many decent photos of immature Turkey Vultures so when I spotted several of them 11 days ago in northern Utah I was excited but my hopes for good light on the hatch year birds were dashed by clouds.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Hatch year Turkey Vulture walking in lichen-covered rocks, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/turkey-vulture-immature-rocks-mia-mcpherson-2255.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-immature-rocks-mia-mcpherson-2255.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/turkey-vulture-immature-rocks-mia-mcpherson-2255.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/turkey-vulture-immature-rocks-mia-mcpherson-2255.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":112763,"position":1},"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 "Birds"","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":[]},{"id":46572,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2017\/05\/04\/roadside-turkey-vultures\/","url_meta":{"origin":112763,"position":2},"title":"Roadside Turkey Vultures – Facts and Photos","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"May 4, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"I took way too many images of several approachable roadside Turkey Vultures sunning, preening, scratching and resting but I am happy with the photos of the birds.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Sunning Turkey Vulture, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/turkey-vulture-sunning-mia-mcpherson-8995.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-sunning-mia-mcpherson-8995.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/turkey-vulture-sunning-mia-mcpherson-8995.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/turkey-vulture-sunning-mia-mcpherson-8995.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":105894,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2022\/09\/03\/international-vulture-awareness-day-2022\/","url_meta":{"origin":112763,"position":3},"title":"International Vulture Awareness Day 2022","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"September 3, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"The first Saturday of September is International Vulture Awareness Day which is a day to bring awareness to these birds that face a range of threats.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Three Turkey Vultures and a lichen covered rock, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/turkey-vulture-trio-on-rock-mia-mcpherson-4631.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/turkey-vulture-trio-on-rock-mia-mcpherson-4631.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/turkey-vulture-trio-on-rock-mia-mcpherson-4631.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/turkey-vulture-trio-on-rock-mia-mcpherson-4631.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":101575,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2022\/04\/17\/my-first-of-year-turkey-vulture\/","url_meta":{"origin":112763,"position":4},"title":"My First of Year Turkey Vulture","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"April 17, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"This post with an image of my first of year Turkey Vulture is about 16 days late because I actually spotted this vulture on April 1st way up in northern Utah.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Roosting first of year Turkey Vulture, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/turkey-vulture-first-of-year-mia-mcpherson-7881.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/turkey-vulture-first-of-year-mia-mcpherson-7881.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/turkey-vulture-first-of-year-mia-mcpherson-7881.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/turkey-vulture-first-of-year-mia-mcpherson-7881.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":41342,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2016\/08\/26\/golden-eagle-turkey-vultures-plus-a-covey-of-gray-partridges\/","url_meta":{"origin":112763,"position":5},"title":"Golden Eagle, Turkey Vultures Plus a Covey of Gray Partridges","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"August 26, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"I spent time in northern Utah yesterday and I was able to photograph a juvenile Golden Eagle, Turkey Vultures plus a covey of Gray Partridges.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Juvenile Gray Partridge, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/gray-partridge-juvenile-mia-mcpherson-3166.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/gray-partridge-juvenile-mia-mcpherson-3166.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/gray-partridge-juvenile-mia-mcpherson-3166.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/gray-partridge-juvenile-mia-mcpherson-3166.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\/112763","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=112763"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/112763\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/112757"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=112763"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=112763"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=112763"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}