{"id":58610,"date":"2019-06-17T05:37:49","date_gmt":"2019-06-17T11:37:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=58610"},"modified":"2024-09-02T12:48:31","modified_gmt":"2024-09-02T17:48:31","slug":"june-turkey-vulture","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2019\/06\/17\/june-turkey-vulture\/","title":{"rendered":"June Turkey Vulture"},"content":{"rendered":"

I haven’t had many Turkey Vultures in my viewfinder since they returned on spring migration this year so I was happy to spot one on Saturday morning that I could photograph. It was more skittish than I would have liked though because it flew from a close perch on the ground out to some distant lichen-covered rocks away from the road.<\/p>\n

\"AdultAdult Turkey Vulture on a June morning – Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/1600, ISO 640, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light, not baited
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

I actually like where the Turkey Vulture landed though because it shows some of the habitat I find these birds in. The vulture was about to scratch its head when I took this image. There were gnats and mosquitoes in the area and they seemed to bother this bird almost as as much as they were annoying me.<\/p>\n

The only thing I don’t like in this photo is that I can see dried cheat grasses on the rocks because they are invasive, have already become tinder dry, and seeing them reminded me of how combustible cheat grass is compared to native grasses, how our wildfire season has already begun and how awful it could be again this year.<\/p>\n

The rest of the photo… I love.<\/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 haven’t had many Turkey Vultures in my viewfinder since they returned on spring migration this year so I was happy to spot one on Saturday morning that I could photograph.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":133642,"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":[27,1148,1315,26],"tags":[4004,4322,3291,4470,7332,4541,165,2443,4618,4617],"class_list":["post-58610","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-cathartes-aura","tag-lichen","tag-rocks","tag-rocky-point","tag-scratching","tag-spring","tag-turkey-vulture","tag-vulture","tag-vultures"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/turkey-vulture-lichen-rocks-mia-mcpherson-2749.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-ffk","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":46572,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2017\/05\/04\/roadside-turkey-vultures\/","url_meta":{"origin":58610,"position":0},"title":"Roadside 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Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/turkey-vulture-first-of-year-mia-mcpherson-7881.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/turkey-vulture-first-of-year-mia-mcpherson-7881.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/turkey-vulture-first-of-year-mia-mcpherson-7881.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/turkey-vulture-first-of-year-mia-mcpherson-7881.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":60294,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2019\/09\/18\/immature-turkey-vultures-in-northern-utah\/","url_meta":{"origin":58610,"position":2},"title":"Immature Turkey Vultures In Northern Utah","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"September 18, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"I don't have many decent photos of immature Turkey Vultures so when I spotted several of them 11 days ago in northern Utah I was excited but my hopes for good light on the hatch year birds were dashed by clouds.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Hatch year Turkey Vulture walking in lichen-covered rocks, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/turkey-vulture-immature-rocks-mia-mcpherson-2255.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-immature-rocks-mia-mcpherson-2255.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, 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That is later than usual for me, but this spring hasn't been normal at all.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"First of season Turkey Vulture on a lichen covered rock, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/turkey-vulture-first-of-season-mia-mcpherson-9334.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/turkey-vulture-first-of-season-mia-mcpherson-9334.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/turkey-vulture-first-of-season-mia-mcpherson-9334.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/turkey-vulture-first-of-season-mia-mcpherson-9334.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":58610,"position":4},"title":"International Vulture Awareness Day 2023","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"September 2, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"Today is International Vulture Awareness Day 2023. 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