Okay, so Black Vultures (Coragyps atratus), aren’t so cute. I just said that so you would read this post. Pretty sneaky, eh? Anyway, Katie, (her blog), loves the Turkey Vultures and I had promised to do a post about them. Well, I’m sorry, Katie, but they, the Turkey types are gone for awhile, so maybe you can learn to love these. 🙂 For the un-informed, turkey vultures have a red head and the black vultures are, well, all black.
Ann and I were at the Spring Creek and Middle Concho parks that are near Lake Nasworthy, doing some local birding when we came across these. The light was pretty good, partly cloudy, so I could get some shots that were not over-run with harsh shadows. They had been feeding on a nearby armadillo carcass Their fast-food place is called Carrion Carry-out. Okay, old joke, courtesy of Gary Larson, sorry. 🙂
Black Vulture
Black Vulture
Black Vulture
Even though the light was better, it still is difficult to bring out the details in the overall blackness of their coat when they are back-lit.
Photo Info: Canon EOS 7d with 100-400mm lens, aperture priority, spot metering and auto ISO on all images. The first was created at an earlier date, the bottom two were photographed Sunday morning.
Photo 1: 1/640 sec. @ f10 – plus 1/3 EV – ISO 320
Photo 2: 1/640 sec. @ f7.1 – plus 1/3 EV – ISO 800
Photo 3: 1/640 sec. @ f7.1 – ISO 1250
Click on any image to see an enlargement.
Texas Tweeties by Bob Zeller 