{"id":139162,"date":"2025-02-02T02:43:34","date_gmt":"2025-02-02T08:43:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=139162"},"modified":"2026-03-14T06:59:42","modified_gmt":"2026-03-14T11:59:42","slug":"winter-black-vulture-photos-from-sequoyah-national-wildlife-refuge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2025\/02\/02\/winter-black-vulture-photos-from-sequoyah-national-wildlife-refuge\/","title":{"rendered":"Winter Black Vulture Photos From Sequoyah National Wildlife Refuge"},"content":{"rendered":"

While at Sequoyah National Wildlife Refuge in Oklahoma<\/span><\/a> yesterday morning, I was delighted to photograph this adult Black Vulture on a bright, sunny winter day.<\/p>\n

\"WinterWinter Black Vulture at Sequoyah National Wildlife Refuge \u2013 Canon R7, handheld, f8, 1\/3200, ISO 2000, Canon EF 100-400mm II at 371mm, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

I didn\u2019t see vultures during the winter while I lived in Utah, so seeing them here is a real treat. Plus, I see both Turkey and Black Vultures now year-round.<\/p>\n

The vultures at the refuge do a bang-up job of cleaning up any carrion they can find. Vultures are an important part of Mother Nature’s cleanup crew. Scavengers like vultures often get a bad rap, but we need them.<\/p>\n

\"BlackBlack Vulture perched on a possible nesting site \u2013 Canon R7, handheld, f8, 1\/1000, ISO 640, +0.7 EV, Canon EF 100-400mm II at 400mm, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

Steve Creek<\/span><\/a> and I both believe that this vulture, along with the other one in a nearby tree, are scoping out this dead tree as a possible nesting site.<\/p>\n

We know a pair of Black Vultures nested in this location last year<\/span><\/a>; we just don’t know the precise location. Also, part of this tree fell last year\u2014we noticed because the section that fell was moved off the road by the refuge staff.<\/p>\n

There appears to be a hollow section in the remaining tree trunk that vultures could use as a nesting site.<\/p>\n

\"BlackBlack Vulture in winter at Sequoyah National Wildlife Refuge \u2013 Canon R7, handheld, f8, 1\/1000, ISO 640, +0.3 EV, Canon EF 100-400mm II at 371mm, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

Having this Black Vulture in my viewfinder yesterday at the refuge was good fun.<\/p>\n

Whether this pair of Black Vultures selects this tree to nest in remains to be seen, but spring is not that far away now, is it?<\/p>\n

Happy Ground Hog’s Day!!<\/p>\n

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

Mia<\/p>\n

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

While at Sequoyah National Wildlife Refuge in Oklahoma yesterday morning, I was delighted to photograph this adult Black Vulture on a bright, sunny winter day.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":139154,"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_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[4614,13973,13974],"tags":[4004,4615,14190,13984,4616,10422,16195,153,4018,4427,12949,4618,4617,373],"class_list":["post-139162","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-black-vultures","category-oklahoma","category-sequoyah-national-wildlife-refuge","tag-adult","tag-black-vulture","tag-bottomland-hardwood-forest","tag-bottomlands","tag-coragyps-atratus","tag-dead-tree","tag-possible-nesting-site","tag-raptors","tag-sky","tag-tree","tag-trunk","tag-vulture","tag-vultures","tag-winter"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t