{"id":70255,"date":"2020-05-26T05:50:41","date_gmt":"2020-05-26T11:50:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=70255"},"modified":"2025-04-04T04:50:55","modified_gmt":"2025-04-04T09:50:55","slug":"adult-turkey-vultures-thermoregulating","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2020\/05\/26\/adult-turkey-vultures-thermoregulating\/","title":{"rendered":"Adult Turkey Vultures Thermoregulating"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"CloseClose up of an adult Turkey Vulture thermoregulating in Box Elder County \u2013 Nikon\u00a0 D500, f7.1, 1\/320, ISO 400, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light, not baited<\/span><\/p>\n

It has been an odd spring so far what with isolating due to the Coronavirus, earthquakes, and for a while the gray clouds that seemed to hang over northern Utah for days. All of those things have meant that I have spent less time in the field seeing and photographing the birds I am so passionate about.<\/p>\n

Take Turkey Vultures for instance, I believe I’ve only photographed them three times so far this spring. Believe me, that is strange. Normally by this time of the year I have taken hundreds of images of Turkey Vultures. Try as I might I can only think of one April morning in Box Elder County and two times up in the Wasatch Mountains that I have been able to raise my lens for vultures.<\/p>\n

\"TurkeyTurkey Vulture thermoregulating on a cool April morning \u2013 Nikon\u00a0 D500, f7.1, 1\/500, ISO 400, Nikkor 500mm VR, natural light, not baited<\/span><\/p>\n

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. I took full advantage of having the vultures close enough to take portraits of them in the thermoregulation posture and then after a bit I removed my 1.4x teleconverter to take frame filling images of the large, dark birds with the sagebrush dotted hillside behind them. I can almost smell the pungent scent of sage when I look at these images.<\/p>\n

\"AdultAdult Turkey Vulture warming up on a ranch gate \u2013 Nikon\u00a0 D500, f7.1, 1\/1000, ISO 400, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light, not baited<\/span><\/p>\n

Later in the morning I also found two Turkey Vultures thermoregulating on the top rail of a ranch gate. The sun was higher by then and the light angle wasn’t quite as good as it was when I took photos of the first two Turkey Vultures but there is something iconic about photographing a vulture on a ranch gate in the “West”, isn’t there?<\/p>\n

I’m not sure how much time I can expect to be in the field for the rest of spring, summer or even the fall but I do hope I’ll have a few more opportunities with Turkey Vultures while they are in northern Utah this year.<\/p>\n

Life is<\/em> good. Stay safe.<\/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":"

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.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":142594,"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":[4004,4226,2663,4322,4142,4098,3830,898,4046,9967,153,2817,4057,5387,5035,9968,2443,4618,4617,8917],"class_list":["post-70255","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-behavior","tag-birds-of-prey","tag-cathartes-aura","tag-close-up","tag-desert","tag-fence","tag-fence-post","tag-portrait","tag-ranch-gate","tag-raptors","tag-sage","tag-sagebrush","tag-thermoregulating","tag-thermoregulation","tag-thermoregulation-posture","tag-turkey-vulture","tag-vulture","tag-vultures","tag-wooden-post"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/turkey-vulture-thermoregulating-close-up-left-mia-mcpherson-2298.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-ih9","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":68295,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2020\/04\/11\/thermoregulating-turkey-vulture-close-up\/","url_meta":{"origin":70255,"position":0},"title":"Thermoregulating Turkey Vulture Close Up","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"April 11, 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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Report","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"March 12, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Yesterday afternoon I received an email from the UBird Google group with a first of the year Turkey Vulture sighting and that got me excited.\u00a0","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Spring Turkey Vulture on a fence post, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/turkey-vulture-thermoregulating-mia-mcpherson-1854.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-thermoregulating-mia-mcpherson-1854.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/turkey-vulture-thermoregulating-mia-mcpherson-1854.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 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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. 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