{"id":82579,"date":"2021-03-28T05:13:03","date_gmt":"2021-03-28T11:13:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=82579"},"modified":"2025-05-26T08:20:02","modified_gmt":"2025-05-26T13:20:02","slug":"spring-turkey-vulture-and-a-view-from-the-road","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2021\/03\/28\/spring-turkey-vulture-and-a-view-from-the-road\/","title":{"rendered":"Spring Turkey Vulture And A View From The Road"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"SpringSpring Turkey Vulture warming up in morning light \u2013 Nikon D500, f7.1, 1\/1600, ISO 500, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

Yesterday morning I was able to photograph a spring Turkey Vulture warming up in the morning light from a rural road in Box Elder County<\/span><\/a>. I had seen vultures in flight on my two previous March trips up there but hadn’t been able to photograph them.<\/p>\n

This Turkey Vulture seemed content to thermoregulate and didn’t offer many other poses while I had it in my viewfinder. I have to admit the warmth of the sun felt nice to me and it probably did to the vulture too.<\/p>\n

The rest of my journey up north wasn’t nearly as birdy as I would have liked but I did spot several Golden Eagles, Red-tailed Hawks, and Bald Eagles along with three lingering Rough-legged Hawks who will be winging their way north very soon. I also saw some smaller birds along the way.<\/p>\n

\"SpringSpring view from a rural road in Box Elder County \u2013 Nikon D810, f9, 1\/1250, ISO 500, Nikkor 18-200mm VR at 28mm, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n

For most of the morning I enjoyed the spring views of the landscape as I looked for birds. Sagebrush and grasses are greening up but the ground is terribly dry. It is drier than I have ever seen it at this time of the year. I truly hope we get more spring rains before the seemingly endless heat of summer.<\/p>\n

Even though I didn’t take that many bird photos it was a pleasant morning up in Box Elder County.<\/p>\n

Life is<\/em> good.<\/p>\n

Mia<\/p>\n

Click here<\/span><\/a> to see more of my Turkey Vulture photos plus facts and information about this species.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Yesterday morning I was able to photograph a spring Turkey Vulture warming up in the morning light from a rural road in Box Elder County.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":145372,"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":[4004,4322,4101,4098,4069,5497,4470,11243,2817,4057,4018,165,5387,5035,2443,4618,4617,10924],"class_list":["post-82579","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-clouds","tag-desert","tag-mountains","tag-pole","tag-rocks","tag-rocky-outcroppings","tag-sage","tag-sagebrush","tag-sky","tag-spring","tag-thermoregulating","tag-thermoregulation","tag-turkey-vulture","tag-vulture","tag-vultures","tag-wooden-pole"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/turkey-vulture-spring-mia-mcpherson-0751.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-ltV","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":70255,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2020\/05\/26\/adult-turkey-vultures-thermoregulating\/","url_meta":{"origin":82579,"position":0},"title":"Adult Turkey Vultures Thermoregulating","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"May 26, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"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.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Close up of an adult Turkey Vulture thermoregulating in Box Elder County, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/turkey-vulture-thermoregulating-close-up-left-mia-mcpherson-2298.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-thermoregulating-close-up-left-mia-mcpherson-2298.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/turkey-vulture-thermoregulating-close-up-left-mia-mcpherson-2298.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/turkey-vulture-thermoregulating-close-up-left-mia-mcpherson-2298.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":36989,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2016\/03\/11\/turkey-vultures-are-natures-clean-up-crew\/","url_meta":{"origin":82579,"position":1},"title":"Turkey Vultures Are Nature’s Clean Up Crew","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"March 11, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Turkey Vultures are Nature's clean up crew. They consume road kill and other dead animals and and in doing so they clean up the messy stuff.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Turkey Vulture warming in the sunlight, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/turkey-vulture-adult-mia-mcpherson-5100.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-adult-mia-mcpherson-5100.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/turkey-vulture-adult-mia-mcpherson-5100.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/turkey-vulture-adult-mia-mcpherson-5100.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":46572,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2017\/05\/04\/roadside-turkey-vultures\/","url_meta":{"origin":82579,"position":2},"title":"Roadside Turkey Vultures – Facts and Photos","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"May 4, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"I took way too many images of several approachable roadside Turkey Vultures sunning, preening, scratching and resting but I am happy with the photos of the birds.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Sunning Turkey Vulture, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/turkey-vulture-sunning-mia-mcpherson-8995.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/turkey-vulture-sunning-mia-mcpherson-8995.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/turkey-vulture-sunning-mia-mcpherson-8995.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/turkey-vulture-sunning-mia-mcpherson-8995.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":58610,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2019\/06\/17\/june-turkey-vulture\/","url_meta":{"origin":82579,"position":3},"title":"June Turkey Vulture","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"June 17, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"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.","rel":"","context":"In "Birds"","block_context":{"text":"Birds","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Adult Turkey Vulture on a June morning, Box Elder County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/turkey-vulture-lichen-rocks-mia-mcpherson-2749.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-lichen-rocks-mia-mcpherson-2749.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/turkey-vulture-lichen-rocks-mia-mcpherson-2749.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/turkey-vulture-lichen-rocks-mia-mcpherson-2749.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":52571,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2018\/06\/13\/photographing-turkey-vultures-on-a-june-morning\/","url_meta":{"origin":82579,"position":4},"title":"Photographing Turkey Vultures On A June Morning","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"June 13, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"As a bird photographer I have found that it is easy to make any species of owl look interesting and appealing in my images but it is more of a challenge to do that with Turkey Vultures but that doesn't mean I don't try. 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