{"id":45763,"date":"2017-03-25T05:43:52","date_gmt":"2017-03-25T11:43:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=45763"},"modified":"2025-03-11T04:32:54","modified_gmt":"2025-03-11T09:32:54","slug":"cooperative-first-of-year-turkey-vulture","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2017\/03\/25\/cooperative-first-of-year-turkey-vulture\/","title":{"rendered":"Cooperative First of Year Turkey Vulture"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"BackBack view of an adult Turkey Vulture – Nikon D500, f10, 1\/800, ISO 500, -0.7 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light, not baited<\/span><\/p>\n

I was pleased to see and photograph my first of the year Turkey Vulture perched on a fence post next to a road yesterday in northern Utah. I’ve been waiting for them to come back and to see them soaring on the thermals in search of food.<\/p>\n

\"TurkeyTurkey Vulture with open bill – Nikon D500, f8, 1\/800, ISO 500, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light, not baited<\/span><\/p>\n

It was chilly yesterday morning and this vulture may have roosted on the fence post overnight and was just beginning to warm up for the day. The vulture opened its bill a few times.<\/p>\n

\"YawningYawning Turkey Vulture – Nikon D500, f8, 1\/800, ISO 500, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light, not baited<\/span><\/p>\n

And yawned. Turkey Vultures only hiss and grunt, they never call because they do not have a syrinx<\/span><\/a>, a vocal organ found in other bird species. So if you ever see a soaring Turkey Vulture on TV or in a movie calling you’ll know that someone on the production team didn’t do their research on these birds.<\/p>\n

\"TurkeyTurkey Vulture’s under valued beauty – Nikon D500, f8, 1\/800, ISO 500, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light, not baited<\/span><\/p>\n

There are people who think that Turkey Vultures, California Condors and Black Vultures are ugly and some people might even get creeped out by them. I am not one of those people. I like the coloring of their feathers and that black feathered collar around their necks.<\/p>\n

\"RousingRousing adult Turkey Vulture – Nikon D500, f8, 1\/1000, ISO 500, -0.3 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light, not baited<\/span><\/p>\n

I also appreciate how they clean up our environment by consuming carrion and road kill. I suspect that the human road crews that are assigned to clean up road kills appreciate them too.<\/p>\n

\"FirstFirst of Year Turkey Vulture – Nikon D500, f8, 1\/1000, ISO 500, Nikkor 500mm VR, natural light, not baited<\/span><\/p>\n

I removed my teleconverter to take this photo hoping to get some images of the vulture taking off without clipping its wing tips but unfortunately a pickup sped by and I missed the images of it lifting off.<\/p>\n

I saw more than a dozen Turkey Vultures yesterday while I was out and about and that was a treat.<\/p>\n

I enjoyed being able to photograph this cooperative Turkey Vulture yesterday with a grassy slope in the background and I hope I have many more opportunities to put my lens on them while they are here to breed and raise their young this year.<\/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","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I was pleased to see and photograph my first of the year Turkey Vulture perched on a fence post next to a road yesterday in northern Utah. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":141453,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27,1148,1315,26],"tags":[4004,5180,2663,898,788,5749,2127,4104,153,3199,11117,2443,4618,4617,340],"class_list":["post-45763","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-back-view","tag-birds-of-prey","tag-fence-post","tag-first-of-year","tag-grassy-slope","tag-open-bill","tag-perched","tag-raptors","tag-rousing","tag-syrinx","tag-turkey-vulture","tag-vulture","tag-vultures","tag-yawning"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/turkey-vulture-yawn-mia-mcpherson-8448.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-bU7","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":126457,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2024\/03\/29\/turkey-vultures-are-heading-to-their-breeding-grounds\/","url_meta":{"origin":45763,"position":0},"title":"Turkey Vultures Are Heading To Their Breeding Grounds","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"March 29, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"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.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Adult Turkey Vulture on an old wooden fence, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/turkey-vulture-old-wooden-fence-spring-mia-mcpherson-2160.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/turkey-vulture-old-wooden-fence-spring-mia-mcpherson-2160.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/turkey-vulture-old-wooden-fence-spring-mia-mcpherson-2160.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, 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Orange?","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"March 4, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"When I photographed this adult Turkey Vulture in northern Utah last year it wasn't alone, there were several other vultures roosting near it that morning on fence posts and a locked gate and I took a lot of images of all of them.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Turkey Vulture perched on an orange post, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/turkey-vulture-orange-post-mia-mcpherson-8873.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-orange-post-mia-mcpherson-8873.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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"Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Adult Turkey Vulture getting ready to lift off, Snowville, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/turkey-vulture-mia-mcpherson-utah-7471.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-mia-mcpherson-utah-7471.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/turkey-vulture-mia-mcpherson-utah-7471.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/turkey-vulture-mia-mcpherson-utah-7471.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 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2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Mornings have still been fairly chilly here in northern Utah and the Turkey Vultures that recently arrived on spring migration have been taking advantage of the rising sun by thermoregulating to help chase off the chill.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Turkey Vulture thermoregulating close up, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/turkey-vulture-thermoregulating-close-up-right-mia-mcpherson-2262.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/turkey-vulture-thermoregulating-close-up-right-mia-mcpherson-2262.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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