Dailies

I photographed this turkey vulture in Big Bend National Park in extreme south Texas on our recent trip. I stayed on my knees for about an hour photographing this vulture and another on a nearby telephone pole. I believe this one was the female. She meticulously groomed every single feather on her body...one at a time! She did every feather the way she is doing this one, running her beak along its length. Look at this image in the largest sizes and you'll see some marks on her feathers. I'm not sure if they are parasites or something else. Her feathers were, on the whole, gorgeous and I think even her head is not ugly like many people think. You can see the little hairs on her head. The other vulture did some grooming, as well, but he was not nearly as meticulous and some of his feathers were pretty ratty. I wanted to get the vultures taking off and by the time I finally got those shots, my legs were shaking, as were my arms from holding my position for such a long time. I shot this with my 200 - 400mm lens and it is a big sucker to handle. I'm going to post a bit early, as my sciatica is killing me. It is great to be back posting and looking at all your wonderful images. Hope your weekend is terrific. Tomorrow we'll have to dig out from our recent blizzard. Hoping the sun melts a lot of it.