Friday, April 18, 2008

Turkey Vulture in Flight

Turkey Vulture photo above taken June, 2007

While out for a drive on Wednesday morning I could see a large bird circling overhead and I was hoping it was a Turkey Vulture. And it was! How wonderful, I thought, for this was only my second sighting of Vultures this spring and I hadn`t yet gotten any pictures of one. As I watched it circling and getting closer I drove off onto a side road and into a parking area by a lake adjacent to the street. Getting out of the car I couldn`t believe my luck with such a close opportunity. Focusing my camera I took my first photo; then nothing else happened. Dead batteries! Going out again in the afternoon I saw two more Turkey Vultures on two different sightings. Again I encounter -ed camera problems for at this time my camera was set for single shots instead of a rapid continous series of shots. However the two pictures I was able to get shows the beauty and gracefullness of this large carrion eating bird. The Vulture`s flight feathers take on a greyish, silvery appearance when viewed from underneath and this can be seen in the photos.
I had no problems on this occasion of deciding which photos to post for these three are the only ones that I had taken.

10 comments:

Sandpiper (Lin) said...

Beautiful pictures!! You captured the details so perfectly. I keep meaning to mention the Robin Convention on the side! I think it's wonderful! I like all the pictures on the side menu, as well.

Stacey Olson said...

It is amazing that these birds can be beautiful. I saw a line of them once sunning themselves along a fence( no camera :() really neat sight. thanks for sharing

me ann my camera said...

sandpiper:
Thanks for mention of the Robin convention :-) I eagerly await the first arrival of Robins each spring, and then they become so commonplace so very quickly.

stacey:
I like to think all creatures are beautiful in their own uniqueness and I find Vultures have a beauty too, especially so when they are viewed in flight.

island:
The first one was really quite low and cropping brought the others closer too. There are quite a few Vulture in the location where they were taken. I had been away all week visiting and took advantage of going out and about hoping to find a few.

Mary said...

I think those are wonderful shots considering you had so many camera problems! I love the way the feathers look in that last shot...the black and the grey..almost like 2 birds stacked together. I'm amazed that the head shows so clearly in the early shots. My overhead shots are always so much more distant looking. Very nice post!

Davis Givan said...

Great pictures, - dead batteries paluge me all the time at the mowt inopportune moments!!!!

me ann my camera said...

mary:
The head looks so small compared to the rest of its size doesn't it. The grey is always a surprise when I see it. I like your observation, "almost like two birds stacked together"

me ann my camera said...

dada:
Having a good harvest of charged batteries is like a river running free - smooth sailing.

Texas Travelers said...

Nice definitive photo of the wing pattern.

ECarr said...

I just started to take a few photos of these wonderful birds two years ago.
I had no idea at the time they were even around here but I see them quite frequently now.

me ann my camera said...

ecarr:
We saw them in the Welsford area first and still see them there quite frequently. We too were very surprised when we saw them overhead from our yard a year or so ago.