Tag: Turkey Vulture

Thursday (14-February-2019) — New Jersey

Backyard Wintertime Nature in New Jersey.

I had some larger birds visit my patio and bird feeder on Valentines Day. I’m not sure if the Black Crow visiting attracted the Turkey Vultures?

alt_title. (David J Mathre)
Turkey Vulture. Image taken with a Nikon D5 Camera and 600 mm f/4 VR lens. (David J Mathre)




One-Year Ago (13-February-2018) — New Jersey

Backyard Wintertime Nature in New Jersey.

The Turkey Vultures keep getting closer. There were nearly 40 in my neighbor’s yard and trees before I went out to take some pictures. I don’t want them on my roof leaving their droppings on the solar panels!

Two Turkey Vultures in the Late Afternoon Sun. Image taken with a Nikon D4 camera and 80-400 mm VRII telephoto zoom lens (ISO 280, 400 mm, f/5.6, 1/400 sec). (David J Mathre)
Two Turkey Vultures in the Late Afternoon Sun. Image taken with a Nikon D4 camera and 80-400 mm VRII telephoto zoom lens (ISO 280, 400 mm, f/5.6, 1/400 sec). (David J Mathre)
Turkey Vulture in the Late Afternoon Sun. Image taken with a Nikon D4 camera and 80-400 mm VRII telephoto zoom lens (ISO 280, 400 mm, f/5.6, 1/400 sec). (David J Mathre)
Turkey Vulture in the Late Afternoon Sun. Image taken with a Nikon D4 camera and 80-400 mm VRII telephoto zoom lens (ISO 280, 400 mm, f/5.6, 1/400 sec). (David J Mathre)

Sunday (20-January-2019) — New Jersey

Wintertime Backyard Nature in New Jersey.

The predicted snow didn’t happen. Instead heavy rain last night (~ 1.8 inches. When I woke up it was foggy out and warm (~ 45 °F). During the day the temperature is forecast to drop 30-40 degrees with heavy winds. During the day the sky cleared so I plan to see and photograph the lunar eclipse (“Wolf Blood Moon”). It will be cold, and I will need to tie down the camera tripods.

alt_title. (David J Mathre)
Foggy Winter Morning. Image taken with a Nikon D5 camera and 600 mm f/4 VR lens (ISO 3200, 600 mm, f/4, 1/400 sec). (David J Mathre)



Individual images from the slideshow can be viewed here.

Thursday (06-December-2018) — New Jersey

Backyard Autumn Nature in New Jersey.

I woke up early, and could see some interesting dawn colors developing. I set up a Fuji X-T3 camera and a brand new Fujion 8-16 mm f/2.8 lens to take a series of images for a time-lapse video. I also brought out a Leica T camera with a 11-23 mm lens for some dawn panorama images. I had forgotten how ornery the Leica T camera is in cold weather. It was a little below freezing (26°F, -3°C). I had a hard time changing the camera settings, so did the best I could. I’ve said this before, it is difficult to believe that a German designed and built camera doesn’t work well at temperatures below freezing. When I asked Leica about this their response was the working temperature specifications for the camera only went down to 0°C. Doesn’t it ever get colder than that in Germany??? In addition to the dawn panorama images, I’ve included some showing a swarm of Turkey Vultures starting to soar just before sunrise.

alt_title. (David J Mathre)
Colorful Clouds at Dawn. Composite of seven images taken with a Leica TL camera and 11-23 mm lens (ISO 100, 23 mm, f/4.5, 1/250 sec). Raw images processed with Capture One Pro and the composite generated with AutoPano Giga Pro. (David J Mathre)
alt_title. (David J Mathre)
Colorful Clouds at Dawn. Composite of three images taken with a Leica TL camera and 11-23 mm lens (ISO 100, 11 mm, f/3.5, 1/250 sec). Raw images processed with Capture One Pro and the composite generated with AutoPano Giga Pro. (David J Mathre)


Thursday (06-December-2018) — New Jersey

Backyard Autumn Nature in New Jersey.

Turkey Vultures Soaring at Dawn. As soon as the sun rises, the committee (group of vultures in trees) that spent the night in the neighborhood (conifer trees and some roofs) take off to hunt for food. Recently, the number of vultures in the neighborhood has increased to several dozen.  The kettle (group of vultures soaring together) start looking for thermals to carry them on their daily hunt for carrion (mainly road-killed deer).