I've been taking images of turkey vultures in flight for about 4 or 5 years. Its kind of like taking images in Yosemite. You can take all the images you want but you cannot capture it in an image. Turkey vultures have a wingspan of about 6 feet. They're big! They play, they test their flying skills, they dive, they chase each other, they do loops, etc. They simply are the best flying machine here.
I had thought I had seen everything in the past 4 or 5 years. However, this past week a turkey vulture left me shaking.
Turkey vultures flying inches apart.
I was standing on the deck watching the turkey vultures above the thermals in back of the house. A turkey vulture snuck up from behind me barely clearning the house. It gazed at me as it flew by. A few minutes later, a turkey vulture--flying for speed--again flew from over the house and above my head. There was this swoosh. (Listen to the sound of the glider in the end of this clip from the original Thomas Crown Affair.) So, there I was with this loud swoosh over my head. The turkey vulture proceeded straight into the woods swooshing all the way from its speed. Since the turkey vulture was flying between trees, it went perpendicular (or sideways) to the ground. You could see it adjusting its wings as it flew between the trees. I simply stood listening and watching as it happened.
Call it play, call it a test of its flying skills, call it whatever you want. I never saw anything like it and it left me shaking for a few minutes.
Turkey vulture slowly turning to its right.
(Originally posted on January 23, 2010)
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