{"id":126457,"date":"2024-03-29T04:43:34","date_gmt":"2024-03-29T10:43:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=126457"},"modified":"2025-05-20T04:33:52","modified_gmt":"2025-05-20T09:33:52","slug":"turkey-vultures-are-heading-to-their-breeding-grounds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2024\/03\/29\/turkey-vultures-are-heading-to-their-breeding-grounds\/","title":{"rendered":"Turkey Vultures Are Heading To Their Breeding Grounds"},"content":{"rendered":"

A little birdie told me that they easily saw more than 60 turkey vultures flying over St. George two evenings ago. That birdie was my good friend April Olson.<\/p>\n

St. George is in far southern Utah, in case you weren’t aware.<\/p>\n

\"AdultAdult Turkey Vulture on an old wooden fence \u2013 Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/800, ISO 400, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light, not baited
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

April knows I get excited when the Turkey Vultures come back from their wintering grounds. She gets excited too!<\/p>\n

It might seem strange for people who have Turkey Vultures year-round to see me get so excited about them arriving back in this state. They aren’t the most beautiful birds, but they are incredible at what they do. These vultures are Nature’s cleanup crew!<\/p>\n

I adore seeing Turkey Vultures waking up from their nighttime roosts and stretching their wings and thermoregulating on cool spring mornings. I also enjoy seeing these vultures on the wing, scanning the ground below them, searching for breakfast. I’ll photograph them each and every time I am presented with the opportunity to do so.<\/p>\n

Turkey Vultures can be challenging to photograph because it can be hard to get the exposure of their dark plumage just right without being so bright as to overexpose their ivory-white bills. I like challenges though.<\/p>\n

I hope to see a Turkey Vulture<\/span><\/a> or two, or ten in my viewfinder soon!<\/p>\n

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

Mia<\/p>\n

Click here<\/span><\/a> to view more of my Turkey Vulture photos plus facts and information about this species.<\/p>\n

The Turkey Vulture above was photographed an April 8, 2020 in northern Utah.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A little birdie told me that they easily saw more than 60 turkey vultures flying over St. George two evenings ago. That birdie was my good friend April Olson.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":145368,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_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":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[27,1148,1315,26],"tags":[4322,4098,3830,3747,2338,4104,11852,153,4156,2283,2817,4057,165,2443,4618,4617,7711],"class_list":["post-126457","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-avian","category-box-elder-county-utah","category-turkey-vultures","category-utah","tag-cathartes-aura","tag-desert","tag-fence","tag-grass","tag-old","tag-perched","tag-ranchlands","tag-raptors","tag-resting","tag-roosting","tag-sage","tag-sagebrush","tag-spring","tag-turkey-vulture","tag-vulture","tag-vultures","tag-wooden"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/turkey-vulture-old-wooden-fence-spring-mia-mcpherson-2160.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-wTD","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":56502,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2019\/03\/09\/migrating-turkey-vultures-are-on-the-wing\/","url_meta":{"origin":126457,"position":0},"title":"Migrating Turkey Vultures Are On The Wing","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"March 9, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"I miss seeing and photographing Turkey Vultures during the winter and now I am excited that very soon I'll be seeing them roosting on fence posts, rocky outcroppings, cattle gates, trees, corrals and the ground, riding the thermals, thermoregulating and scarfing up road kill all over the place!","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Adult Turkey Vulture flying low over sagebrush, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/turkey-vulture-flight-sagebrush-mia-mcpherson-5371.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-flight-sagebrush-mia-mcpherson-5371.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/turkey-vulture-flight-sagebrush-mia-mcpherson-5371.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/turkey-vulture-flight-sagebrush-mia-mcpherson-5371.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":81237,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2021\/03\/12\/signs-of-spring-first-turkey-vulture-sighting-report\/","url_meta":{"origin":126457,"position":1},"title":"Signs Of Spring – First Turkey Vulture Sighting Report","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"March 12, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Yesterday afternoon I received an email from the UBird Google group with a first of the year Turkey Vulture sighting and that got me excited.\u00a0","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Spring Turkey Vulture on a fence post, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/turkey-vulture-thermoregulating-mia-mcpherson-1854.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-thermoregulating-mia-mcpherson-1854.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/turkey-vulture-thermoregulating-mia-mcpherson-1854.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 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I will always try.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","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":46572,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2017\/05\/04\/roadside-turkey-vultures\/","url_meta":{"origin":126457,"position":5},"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":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/126457","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=126457"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/126457\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/145368"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=126457"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=126457"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=126457"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}