February 03 – My Nature Journal

Black Vulture

Coragyps atratus

This evening I took a sunset walk around my favorite lake. I saw many of the usual animals like Great Blue Herons (Ardea herodias), American Crows (Corvus brachyrhynchos), and Mallards (Anas platyrhynchos).

But this Black Vulture was the most unusual wildlife sighting of the night.

Although they are as widespread in my area as their cousin vulture species, the Turkey Vultures (Cathartes aura), I see far fewer Black Vultures for some reason.

This bird was one of three that swooped around just above the tree line as I passed. I suspect they were getting ready to land and roost for the night.

My photograph makes the scene appear much sunnier than it actually was. At the time of this shot, the sun had already set almost completely on the far side horizon. Only the ridge upon which I stood was still getting a few sunbeams.

Taking photos of black wild animals is challenging even in great light and is especially tough when the animals are silhouetted against the sky.

I had to push my exposure bias up to +3.3 to get even a little detail on this bird, and I still didn’t capture very much.

But I managed to get enough detail to show that this bird had white outer primary feathers and a stubby tail that only just barely extends past its back legs while in flight.

So, at least I was able to identify it as a Black Vulture rather than a Turkey Vulture.