Dancing with the Turkey Vultures

As the climate warms, species that one might customarily see rarely sometimes become more visible.  Turkey vultures are now very common in central New England, whereas before, they were more common on Cape Cod.  Further south, they are quite common.  On our recent visit to Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge on the Eastern Shore of Virginia, we happened to encounter a flock of turkey vultures, hanging about in some wonderfully abstract looking trees.

I know, everyone really wants to know if we saw the ponies.  Yes, we did, but they were, shall we say, working.  They hang out in the marsh and they eat.  My lens, though long, wasn’t long enough but more frustratingly, not once did they look up from their work so that I could get a shot with them looking at me.  Pictures of ponies with their heads in the marsh grass are, at least in my opinion, rather boring. So, not  wanting to be a turkey (sorry), we decided to hang with the turkey vultures.

I’ve been told on good authority (by my daughter, who really is a great authority) that when we think we’re seeing hawks in the sky, we may well be seeing turkey vultures.  They are about the same size (the turkey vultures appearing to be just a bit bigger), but they are far more social it seems to me.

However, social, on this day it wasn’t clear how well they were getting along.  They seemed very restless.

Of course, spring was in the air, and you know what that means.

Leaving us with much to consider.

Tech note:  All images shot with a Nikon D700 and 28 – 300 lens.  That lens is supposed to be mediocre at best according to “the internet.”  “The internet” is wrong on that score.  Converted to black and white in Lightroom and Photoshop.