{"id":170985,"date":"2026-03-04T06:54:42","date_gmt":"2026-03-04T12:54:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=170985"},"modified":"2026-03-04T06:55:53","modified_gmt":"2026-03-04T12:55:53","slug":"black-vultures-in-a-field-at-sequoyah-national-wildlife-refuge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2026\/03\/04\/black-vultures-in-a-field-at-sequoyah-national-wildlife-refuge\/","title":{"rendered":"Black Vultures In A Field At Sequoyah National Wildlife Refuge"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"lazyload aligncenter wp-image-170982 size-full\" title=\"Black Vultures in a field at Sequoyah National Wildlife Refuge, Oklahoma\" src=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/black-vultures-in-a-field-mia-mcpherson-8853.jpg\" data-orig-src=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/black-vultures-in-a-field-mia-mcpherson-8853.jpg\" alt=\"Black Vultures in a field at Sequoyah National Wildlife Refuge, Oklahoma\" 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\/2026\/03\/black-vultures-in-a-field-mia-mcpherson-8853-200x143.jpg 200w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/black-vultures-in-a-field-mia-mcpherson-8853-300x214.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/black-vultures-in-a-field-mia-mcpherson-8853-400x286.jpg 400w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/black-vultures-in-a-field-mia-mcpherson-8853-600x429.jpg 600w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/black-vultures-in-a-field-mia-mcpherson-8853-768x549.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/black-vultures-in-a-field-mia-mcpherson-8853.jpg 900w\" data-sizes=\"auto\" data-orig-sizes=\"(max-width: 900px) 100vw, 900px\" \/><span style=\"color: #808080;\">Black Vultures in a field at Sequoyah National Wildlife Refuge \u2013 Canon R7, beanbag, f10, 1\/500, ISO 1250, +0.3 EV, Canon RF 100-500mm at 500mm, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Last week I was delighted to come across two Black Vultures on the ground in a field at Sequoyah National Wildlife Refuge. One was an adult, and one was a sub-adult likely to have hatched last year.<\/p>\n<p>The vulture on the right is the sub-adult. Note the color of the head and how high the feathers go up the neck and head.<\/p>\n<p>I still get excited to have Black Vultures in my viewfinder. I saw and photographed Turkey Vultures in Utah, but never Black Vultures. Sighting one there would have been rare.<\/p>\n<p>While I had the two Black Vultures in my viewfinder, I decided to video them. I switched over to video and took four videos. The one below is my favorite.<\/p>\n<div class=\"fusion-video fusion-youtube fusion-aligncenter\" style=\"--awb-max-width:1000px;--awb-max-height:563px;--awb-width:100%;--awb-margin-bottom:24px;\" itemscope itemtype=\"http:\/\/schema.org\/VideoObject\"><meta itemprop=\"duration\" content=\"PT13S\" \/><meta itemprop=\"name\" content=\"Black Vultures in a field at Sequoyah National Wildlife Refuge\" \/><meta itemprop=\"description\" content=\"I found these Black Vultures in a field at Sequoyah National Wildlife Refuge on 27 February, 2026. The bird on the left is an adult, the one on the right is a sub-adult who most likely hatched last year. These vultures are Nature&#039;s clean up crew.\" \/><meta itemprop=\"uploadDate\" content=\"2026-03-03T15:23:41-06:00\" \/><meta itemprop=\"thumbnailUrl\" content=\"https:\/\/i3.ytimg.com\/vi\/AJ2sid0lc04\/hqdefault.jpg\" \/><meta itemprop=\"embedUrl\" content=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/AJ2sid0lc04\" \/><div class=\"video-shortcode\"><div class=\"fluid-width-video-wrapper\" style=\"padding-top:56.3%;\" ><iframe class=\"lazyload\" title=\"Black Vultures in a field at Sequoyah National Wildlife Refuge\" src=\"data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns%3D%27http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2000%2Fsvg%27%20width%3D%271000%27%20height%3D%27563%27%20viewBox%3D%270%200%201000%20563%27%3E%3Crect%20width%3D%271000%27%20height%3D%27563%27%20fill-opacity%3D%220%22%2F%3E%3C%2Fsvg%3E\" data-orig-src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/AJ2sid0lc04?wmode=transparent&autoplay=0&amp;rel=0\" width=\"1000\" height=\"563\" allowfullscreen allow=\"autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture;\"><\/iframe><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n<p>Watch on <a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/AJ2sid0lc04\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">YouTube<\/span><\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>The video was my favorite because of the sub-adult <a href=\"https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/guide\/Black_Vulture\/overview\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Black Vulture<\/span><\/a> rousing and the call of the crow in the background.<\/p>\n<p>After this video was taken, something caused both vultures to fly off and join the other vultures in a nearby tree close to Reeve&#8217;s Slough.<\/p>\n<p>I&#8217;m always happy to have vultures, Turkey or Black, in my viewfinder.<\/p>\n<p>Life<em> is<\/em> good.<\/p>\n<p>Mia<\/p>\n<p>Click <a href=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/black-vulture-images\/\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">here<\/span><\/a> to see more of my Black Vulture photos plus facts and information about this species.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Last week I was delighted to come across two Black Vultures on the ground in a field at Sequoyah National Wildlife Refuge. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":170982,"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":[27,4614,13973,13974,5362],"tags":[4004,4615,13984,4616,1124,2239,9461,2791,4618,4617,373],"class_list":["post-170985","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-avian","category-black-vultures","category-oklahoma","category-sequoyah-national-wildlife-refuge","category-video","tag-adult","tag-black-vulture","tag-bottomlands","tag-coragyps-atratus","tag-field","tag-sub-adult","tag-subadult","tag-video","tag-vulture","tag-vultures","tag-winter"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/black-vultures-in-a-field-mia-mcpherson-8853.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-ItP","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":139162,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2025\/02\/02\/winter-black-vulture-photos-from-sequoyah-national-wildlife-refuge\/","url_meta":{"origin":170985,"position":0},"title":"Winter Black Vulture Photos From Sequoyah National Wildlife Refuge","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"February 2, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"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.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Black Vultures&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Black Vultures","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/diurnal-raptors\/black-vultures\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Black Vulture perched on a possible nesting site, Sequoyah National Wildlife Refuge, Oklahoma","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/black-vulture-winter-sequoyah-nwr-mia-mcpherson-2677.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/black-vulture-winter-sequoyah-nwr-mia-mcpherson-2677.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/black-vulture-winter-sequoyah-nwr-mia-mcpherson-2677.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/black-vulture-winter-sequoyah-nwr-mia-mcpherson-2677.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":48330,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2017\/09\/02\/international-vulture-awareness-day-2017\/","url_meta":{"origin":170985,"position":1},"title":"International Vulture Awareness Day 2017","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"September 2, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Vultures are fascinating birds and they are great for the environments around the globe that they are found in, we need to do more to help them today and every day.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Birds&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Thermoregulating adult Turkey Vulture, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/turkey-vulture-thermoregulation-mia-mcpherson-2716.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/turkey-vulture-thermoregulation-mia-mcpherson-2716.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/turkey-vulture-thermoregulation-mia-mcpherson-2716.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/turkey-vulture-thermoregulation-mia-mcpherson-2716.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":41671,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2016\/09\/03\/international-vulture-awareness-day-2016\/","url_meta":{"origin":170985,"position":2},"title":"International Vulture Awareness Day 2016","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"September 3, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Vultures and condors are scavengers and help to clean up the environment by consuming carrion, road kill and gut piles left from the kills of human and non-human hunters.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Birds&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Turkey Vulture thermoregulating in a field","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/turkey-vultures-thermoregulating-mia-mpcherson-2398.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-vultures-thermoregulating-mia-mpcherson-2398.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/turkey-vultures-thermoregulating-mia-mpcherson-2398.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/turkey-vultures-thermoregulating-mia-mpcherson-2398.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":70255,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2020\/05\/26\/adult-turkey-vultures-thermoregulating\/","url_meta":{"origin":170985,"position":3},"title":"Adult Turkey Vultures Thermoregulating","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"May 26, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"In April there was a bright, sunny morning when I had several opportunities to photograph adult Turkey Vultures warming up after a chilly night by thermoregulating.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Birds&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Close up of an adult Turkey Vulture thermoregulating in Box Elder County, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/turkey-vulture-thermoregulating-close-up-left-mia-mcpherson-2298.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/turkey-vulture-thermoregulating-close-up-left-mia-mcpherson-2298.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/turkey-vulture-thermoregulating-close-up-left-mia-mcpherson-2298.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/turkey-vulture-thermoregulating-close-up-left-mia-mcpherson-2298.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":156105,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2025\/09\/16\/immature-turkey-vulture-photos-from-oklahoma\/","url_meta":{"origin":170985,"position":4},"title":"Immature Turkey Vulture Photos From Oklahoma","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"September 16, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Yesterday morning I was delighted to take immature Turkey Vulture photos at Sequoyah National Wildlife Refuge along with some images of adults.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Birds&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Immature Turkey Vulture thermoregulating in Oklahoma, Sequoyah National Wildlife Refuge","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/turkey-vulture-sequoyah-immature-mia-mcpherson-8656.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-sequoyah-immature-mia-mcpherson-8656.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/turkey-vulture-sequoyah-immature-mia-mcpherson-8656.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/turkey-vulture-sequoyah-immature-mia-mcpherson-8656.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":140974,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2025\/02\/28\/two-black-vultures-in-winter\/","url_meta":{"origin":170985,"position":5},"title":"Two Black Vultures In Winter","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"February 28, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"While I was at Sequoyah National Wildlife Refuge in Oklahoma yesterday, Steve Creek and I went for a walk, and I photographed these two Black Vultures.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Birds&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Two Black Vultures next to Goss' Slough, Sequoyah National Wildlife Refuge, Oklahoma","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/black-vultures-ground-mia-mcpherson-6333.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/black-vultures-ground-mia-mcpherson-6333.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/black-vultures-ground-mia-mcpherson-6333.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/black-vultures-ground-mia-mcpherson-6333.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\/170985","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=170985"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/170985\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/170982"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=170985"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=170985"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=170985"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}