• Tuesday-What'sUP August 22 - 07:44 am

Today's feather subjects come to us from Ryan Byykkonen, who happened to be in the right place, at the right time, to capture that first seagull shot. I like how he took a lowly seagull, sitting on a light pole and turned it into a scenic Keweenaw scene, complete with the Quincy Mine Shaft in the background.

That's a Turkey Vulture, also called a Turkey Buzzard, in the last two photos from Ryan. They're quite a large bird and from a distance, can often be mistaken for an Eagle, until you spot that red head, that's a sure give-away for which bird it is.
Both of these birds are scavengers...the seagull is always looking for an easy meal in the form of a handout, whereas the Turkey Vulture is always scanning the land below, looking for road kill to feast on. It truly is amazing how nature takes care of itself, when it comes to critters, like these.

You're right, Mary, turkey vultures are BIG birds. Looked out one day and there were 4 sitting on the ridge of our barn! Kinda spooky looking because they are so large.:<

Awesome pics. We really do have an amazing variety of birds here in the Yoop! I happen to think Seagulls are just beautiful!

Nice shot of the wingspan!

RCW (Robert Wetton) sent this photo of a Turkey Vulture for everyone to see it UP Close and personal. He said it was working on a dead deer in the ditch near their camp in Bootjack. Not the prettiest bird on the block, but interesting just the same.

Keeping the U.P. clean for hundreds of years......

Wasn't there a cartoon by Walter Lantz about a buzzard character called "Buzzy". RCW's photo reminded me of that.

After we mow and bale our hay fields, Turkey Buzzards, Hawks, and Eagles are down there eating up field mice, snakes, and rabbits that did not run fast enough away from the haying equipment.

Super pictures. Thanks so much!

Great Bird shots ryan....nice work!!!

We have a skunk that eats our leftovers; handy
garbage disposal.

Great shots!! Some day I'm going to get a really good camera so I can get some nice close-ups like that. I did get one of a seagull at Houghton Beach before we came back to MN, but it's not real hard to get close to them, lol!

Thanks, Ryan!