Turkey Vulture

I could see this bird in the middle of road from about 150m away and I immediately knew that it was not a crow, it was much too large. It stopped its meal of road kill as I got close and flew over to a fence post to wait until I passed. Its wing span was at least four feet across. These are very large birds, but ugly as all get out. I had to take the photo from inside the car so it is not as sharp as I would typically like.

IMAGE LINK: http://www.flickr.com/​photos/bobhurley/95845​00931/

oh man, sweet shot!

Excellent capture

Cool shot, these guys are on my list to photograph but whenever I see them they are so wary, never get close enough.
Mike

grendel64 wrote in post #16238473
Cool shot, these guys are on my list to photograph but whenever I see them they are so wary, never get close enough.
Mike

He did not stick around long. He flew from the road to this fence post just long enough for me to stop the car, reach for my camera and snap off a few frames. After that he flew away. What struck me the most about this bird, besides its features, was the wing span.

Nice shot...but they really should stay soaring high above us where they look so majestic!

Nice shot of Mother Nature's clean-up crew.

Nice capture. Not the prettiest of birds lol

Holy crap you have good eyes!! 150 miles??!!!

Around here we call them buzzards. I've found a spot where they tend to congregate and roost in late evening, just need to get a long lens and tripod to capture them. Yours is a good shot!

Great shot but yes they are way better looking in flight! We have them all over the place down here!

snerd wrote in post #16238866
Holy crap you have good eyes!! 150 miles??!!!

Around here we call them buzzards. I've found a spot where they tend to congregate and roost in late evening, just need to get a long lens and tripod to capture them. Yours is a good shot!

150m is really metres not miles! But I bet you knew that already

Chiefy wrote in post #16238512
. What struck me the most about this bird, besides its features, was the wing span.

They do look big, don't they? I've read that while they look almost as big as eagles, there's not much to them and adults usually only weigh 4 pounds or so. I did pick one up that had been hit by a car once to see whether or not it was an eagle(DNR in my area watches eagles pretty closely but doesn't seem to care about "lesser" birds.) The carcass was maybe a pound after sitting and drying out so I believe the claim.

Nice shot considering the circumstances. Most of my vulture shots come from driving a county road with my window halfway down. Camera rides on the passenger seat and I use the window as a rest when I try taking the shot. Haven't had any luck with flight shots yet-they're just too high up. Not the prettiest of birds but they're well worth photos.

nice catch. how far was the bird when you actually clicked?

kdacharya wrote in post #16239862
nice catch. how far was the bird when you actually clicked?

I was stopped in the middle of a back country dirt road, and the bird was on the fence post of the house across the road - maybe 15 metres away. I had the 100-400mm mounted on the 5D Mk3 on the passenger seat beside me.

great shot Bob