{"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_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":[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":156105,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2025\/09\/16\/immature-turkey-vulture-photos-from-oklahoma\/","url_meta":{"origin":170985,"position":1},"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":128520,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2024\/05\/15\/black-vulture-portraits-from-tishomingo-national-wildlife-refuge\/","url_meta":{"origin":170985,"position":2},"title":"Black Vulture Portraits From Tishomingo National Wildlife Refuge","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"May 15, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Last week, I was thrilled to take my first Black Vulture photos at Tishomingo National Wildlife Refuge, and some were portraits of the vultures that I found.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Birds&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Tishomingo NWR Black Vulture portrait, Tishomingo National Wildlife Refuge, Oklahoma","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/black-vulture-portrait-tishomingo-NWR-mia-mcpherson-9655.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/black-vulture-portrait-tishomingo-NWR-mia-mcpherson-9655.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/black-vulture-portrait-tishomingo-NWR-mia-mcpherson-9655.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/black-vulture-portrait-tishomingo-NWR-mia-mcpherson-9655.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":3},"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":[]},{"id":130297,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2024\/07\/07\/immature-black-vulture-photos-from-sequoyah-nwr\/","url_meta":{"origin":170985,"position":4},"title":"Immature Black Vulture Photos From Sequoyah NWR","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"July 7, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"On the Fourth of July, I was delighted to photograph an immature Black Vulture shortly after sunrise at Sequoyah National Wildlife Refuge in Oklahoma.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Birds&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Immature Black Vulture at Sequoyah National Wildlife Refuge, Oklahoma","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/black-vulture-immature-sequoyah-mia-mcpherson-8596.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/black-vulture-immature-sequoyah-mia-mcpherson-8596.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/black-vulture-immature-sequoyah-mia-mcpherson-8596.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/black-vulture-immature-sequoyah-mia-mcpherson-8596.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":115586,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2023\/09\/02\/international-vulture-awareness-day-2023\/","url_meta":{"origin":170985,"position":5},"title":"International Vulture Awareness Day 2023","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"September 2, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"Today is International Vulture Awareness Day 2023. I admit to having a soft spot for vultures because they are often misunderstood, and because I tend to stand up for those who have no voice.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Birds&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Two Turkey Vultures on a spring morning, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/turkey-vultures-on-a-cliff-mia-mcpherson-3929.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/turkey-vultures-on-a-cliff-mia-mcpherson-3929.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/turkey-vultures-on-a-cliff-mia-mcpherson-3929.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/turkey-vultures-on-a-cliff-mia-mcpherson-3929.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}]}}