{"id":46132,"date":"2017-04-11T05:29:26","date_gmt":"2017-04-11T11:29:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=46132"},"modified":"2025-03-15T06:13:40","modified_gmt":"2025-03-15T11:13:40","slug":"turkey-vultures-at-a-corral-hillside-canada-goose-and-a-red-tailed-hawk-fly-over","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2017\/04\/11\/turkey-vultures-at-a-corral-hillside-canada-goose-and-a-red-tailed-hawk-fly-over\/","title":{"rendered":"Turkey Vultures at a Corral, Hillside Canada Goose and a Red-tailed Hawk Fly Over"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"TurkeyTurkey Vulture on the rail of an old corral – Nikon D500, f8, 1\/400, ISO 320, -0.3 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light, not baited<\/span><\/p>\n

Yesterday morning was bright and sunny and I had fun photographing Turkey Vultures at a corral, a hillside Canada Goose and a Red-tailed Hawk flying over with nesting materials in northern Utah.<\/p>\n

Turkey Vultures roosting on the rails of an old corral seems iconic to the American West and I couldn’t pass up photographing the two vultures in the sweet light of dawn. No need to pass them up when pixels are cheap, right?<\/p>\n

\"TurkeyTurkey Vulture greeting the sun at an old corral – Nikon D500, f8, 1\/400, ISO 320, -0.3 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light, not baited<\/span><\/p>\n

The textures of the old rails of the corral just look “right” with these vultures and the morning light brought out all the details of the vulture’s plumage and the bark of the wood used to make the corral.<\/p>\n

\"TurkeyTurkey Vulture roosting on an old corral – Nikon D500, f8, 1\/320, ISO 200, -0.7 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light, not baited<\/span><\/p>\n

The two vultures were far enough apart that I couldn’t get them both in the same frame with my long lens so I photographed them individually. I saw lots of Turkey Vultures on the wing yesterday and many of them were rocking back and forth while soaring on the thermals. It is nice to have Nature’s clean up crew back again.<\/p>\n

\"TurkeyTurkey Vulture with nictitating membrane showing – Nikon D500, f8, 1\/320, ISO 200, -0.3 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light, not baited<\/span><\/p>\n

Normally I don’t save many images of birds that show their exposed nictitating membrane, or third eyelid, but I found the bluish, purplish color of the membrane interesting because it nearly matches the exposed, wrinkled skin on the top of the vulture’s head. I’d never noticed that before yesterday morning.<\/p>\n

\"CanadaCanada Goose on a spring hillside – Nikon D500, f8, 1\/800, ISO 320, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

Canada Geese are common throughout most of North America, they are so common that many people ignore them as best they can and some photographers won’t bother to stop to photograph them which I find a little odd because they are birds after all but what isn’t<\/em> common in other parts to the country is to see and be able to photograph Canada Geese on high cliff faces, rocky promontories and steep hillsides that are found in the Great Basin area. Add a mix of spring grasses, lichens and the yellows of wildflowers and the common becomes uncommon.<\/p>\n

\"Red-tailedRed-tailed Hawk flying over with nesting materials – Nikon D500, f8, 1\/1000, ISO 320, +0.3 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light, not baited
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

And what bird photographer could resist raising their lens to a Red-tailed Hawk flying over with nesting materials? Not this one. Not yesterday, today or any day that I have the chance. The composition isn’t ideal, I would have liked more room on the right side of the frame so that the end of the branch in the hawk’s beak showed but there are times that images like this work and I think this one does.<\/p>\n

Life is<\/em> good. I love being a bird photographer.<\/p>\n

Mia<\/p>\n

To see more of my bird photos please click here<\/span><\/a>.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Yesterday morning was bright and sunny and I had fun photographing Turkey Vultures at a corral, a hillside Canada Goose and a Red-tailed Hawk flying over with nesting materials in northern Utah. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":141660,"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":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27,1148,28,449,1315,26],"tags":[2663,32,4170,4343,4322,5797,4052,4109,4169,2386,751,5798,440,2465,153,5201,5446,4209,4470,2283,5074,2443,4617,4307],"class_list":["post-46132","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-avian","category-box-elder-county-utah","category-canada-geese","category-red-tailed-hawks","category-turkey-vultures","category-utah","tag-birds-of-prey","tag-branta-canadensis","tag-buteo-jamaicensis","tag-canada-goose","tag-cathartes-aura","tag-corral","tag-flight","tag-grasses","tag-hawks","tag-hawks-of-utah","tag-hillside","tag-membrane","tag-nesting-materials","tag-nictitating-membrane","tag-raptors","tag-red-tail-hawk","tag-red-tailed-hawks","tag-red-tailed-hawk","tag-rocks","tag-roosting","tag-third-eyelid","tag-turkey-vulture","tag-vultures","tag-wildflowers"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/turkey-vulture-corral-mia-mcpherson-5468.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-c04","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":45821,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2017\/03\/27\/foggy-morning-red-tailed-hawks-turkey-vulture\/","url_meta":{"origin":46132,"position":0},"title":"Foggy Morning Red-tailed Hawks & Turkey Vulture","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"March 27, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"It wasn't \"partly sunny\" as predicted but I enjoyed myself while photographing the Turkey Vulture and Red-tailed Hawks on a foggy morning even though it tested my skills and techniques.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Red-tailed Hawk balancing in a fog, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/red-tailed-hawk-adult-foggy-mia-mcpherson-0101.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/red-tailed-hawk-adult-foggy-mia-mcpherson-0101.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/red-tailed-hawk-adult-foggy-mia-mcpherson-0101.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/red-tailed-hawk-adult-foggy-mia-mcpherson-0101.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":12476,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2013\/12\/31\/seeing-the-tail-end\/","url_meta":{"origin":46132,"position":1},"title":"Seeing The Tail End…","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"December 31, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Seeing the tail end... of 2013 on this last day of December.","rel":"","context":"In "American Barn Owls"","block_context":{"text":"American Barn Owls","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/owls\/barn-owls\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Red-tailed Hawk butt shot with prey, West Desert, Tooele County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/red-tailed-hawk-butt-mia-mcpherson-7064.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/red-tailed-hawk-butt-mia-mcpherson-7064.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/red-tailed-hawk-butt-mia-mcpherson-7064.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/red-tailed-hawk-butt-mia-mcpherson-7064.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":4564,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2012\/02\/29\/the-west-desert-of-utah\/","url_meta":{"origin":46132,"position":2},"title":"The West Desert of Utah","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"February 29, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"I am one of those people who love deserts and the West Desert of Utah is once again beckoning to me. The weather here in Utah is very changeable right now, it can feel like spring one day and the next it still feels like winter but it won't be\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Horned Larks"","block_context":{"text":"Horned Larks","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/larks\/horned-larks\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Way out in the West Desert of Utah, Tooele or Juab County","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/west-desert-utah-mia-mcpherson-1914.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/west-desert-utah-mia-mcpherson-1914.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/west-desert-utah-mia-mcpherson-1914.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, 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