Vultures and Kites: May raptor photography practice in southeastern Pennsylvania - part 1
As mentioned in my previous post, the last two posts in my photography series covering the May photographs will cover the raptors. In this post, part 1, we'll view photos of the Black Vulture, the Mississippi Kite, and the Turkey Vulture.
The Black Vulture and the Mississippi Kite were previously covered in the first encounters post, but I think it's worthwhile to revisit them here, so they get recorded with the raptors for the month. For a complete list of my spring/2026 wildlife posts, see the end of this post.
Before we get into the photos, here is a summary table with the sightings that were reported to iNaturalist. As with all previous posts, I don't report all sightings to iNaturalist, so some of these photos may be from different dates.
| Species | Count (all time) | Count (May) | First Sighting | Last Sighting | Observations |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Black Vulture | 5 | 4 | 2026-05-03 | 2026-06-05 | 2026-05-03, 2026-05-11, 2026-05-25, 2026-05-27 |
| Mississippi Kite | 1 | 1 | 2026-05-25 | 2026-05-25 | 2026-05-25 |
| Turkey Vulture | 25 | 8 | 2026-03-24 | 2026-06-05 | 2026-05-01, 2026-05-03, 2026-05-09, 2026-05-11, 2026-05-16, 2026-05-25, 2026-05-27, 2026-05-29 |
Black Vulture
I had never heard of a Black Vulture before my first observation on May 3. Apparently, my part of Pennsylvania is near the northern edge of their range - which extends south all the way through Central America and most of the way through South America. Their migration pattern is simply to compress their range during the fall and winter months. Individuals at high latitudes and high altitudes fly to lower latitudes/altitudes. This probably explains why I hadn't seen any during March or April.
Normally, when I see the Black Vulture, they are in the company of Turkey Vultures. AllAboutBirds explains this. Turkey Vultures have a better sense of smell than Black Vultures, so the Black Vultures hunt by keeping an eye on the Turkey Vultures. Strangely, Black Vultures only live in the Americas today, but the oldest known skeletons were found in Europe (34 million years in age) - which suggests that their evolutionary history is not straightforward. The oldest Black Vulture on record was banded in Louisiana in 1940, and found there again during 1965.
As with the Turkey Vulture, I haven't yet mastered the ability to tease out details of the bird's black coloring when it's backlit by a bright sky, so some of these aren't the greatest photos. I think I'm getting a little better at it, though.
| May 3 | May 3 |
| ƒ/5; 1/1000; ISO360; 108mm (25X, 601mm equiv.) | ƒ/5; 1/1000; ISO200; 108mm (25X, 601mm equiv.) |
 |  |
| May 11 | May 27 |
| ƒ/6.3; 1/2000; ISO400; 288mm (66X, 1602mm equiv.); Edited to improve lighting. | ƒ/8; 1/2500; ISO1600; 539mm (125X, 3000mm equiv.) |
 |  |
| May 27 | May 27 |
| ƒ/7.1; 1/2500; ISO1100; 216mm (50X, 1202mm equiv.) | ƒ/7.1; 1/2500; ISO1600; 216mm (50X, 1202mm equiv.) |
 | |
This kettle on May 26 had a mix of Turkey Vultures and Black Vultures.
| May 26 |
| ƒ/4; 1/2000; ISO450; 24.3mm (5X, 135mm equiv.) |
 |
Mississippi Kite
As previously noted, this bird is very uncommon in my region. iNaturalist only shows eight observations in my county for all years, and all occurred in the dates between May 25 and June 18. Three of eight (including mine) were this year. The bird's typical range is in the southcentral and southeastern United States, and it migrates into Mexico.
These birds will eat insects, bats, small birds, and it sometimes scavenges animals that were killed on roads and highways. Unfortunately, the photos I got were not great. I was able to improve one a tiny bit with editing, after the fact.
| May 25 | May 25 |
| ƒ/7.1; 1/2000; ISO900; 395mm (91X, 2198mm equiv.); Unedited | ƒ/7.1; 1/2000; ISO900; 395mm (91X, 2198mm equiv.); Cropped and sharpened. |
 |  |
Turkey Vultures
Turkey Vultures and Red-tailed Hawks are my top-10 observations on iNaturalist, with Red-tailed Hawks edging out the Turkey Vultures during May. They range all the way from lower Canada to the bottom of South America, but my area of Pennsylvania is near the northern edge of their year round range. Their population of 28 million makes them the most common vultures in North America and South America. They can be recognized in flight by the V-shaped wings and unsteady/erratic glides. On the ground, they can be recognized by their red, featherless head. In fact, they got their name because their heads resemble a regular Turkey head.
With 8 observations, I'll have to skip over most of the photos, but this month, I started experimenting with photo editing, so I'll start off with some before/after photos, and follow that with some plain-vanilla unedited shots.
| May 3 (unedited) | May 3 (cropped) | May 3 (cropped and "remastered") |
| ƒ/5; 1/1000; ISO140; 108mm (25X, 601mm equiv.) | ƒ/5; 1/1000; ISO140; 108mm (25X, 601mm equiv.) | ƒ/5; 1/1000; ISO140; 108mm (25X, 601mm equiv.) |
 |  |  |
| May 14 | May 27 |
| ƒ/5; 1/1000; ISO180; 108mm | ƒ/8; 1/2500; ISO1600; 395mm (91X, 2198mm equiv.) |
 |  |
| May 27 | May 27 |
| ƒ/8; 1/2500; ISO900; 395mm (91X, 2198mm equiv.) | ƒ/7.1; 1/2500; ISO1600; 216mm (50X, 1202mm equiv.) |
 |  |
| May 27 | May 30 |
| ƒ/6.3; 1/2500; ISO900; 89.9mm (20X, 500mm equiv.) | ƒ/6.3; 1/2500; ISO1000; 89.9mm |
 |  |
Wrap-up
Thanks for reading. I hope you enjoyed this roundup of the Vultures and Kite that I managed to photograph during May. One more post to close the May photography summaries will be the hawks. I am looking forward to putting that post together, because the hawks definitely gave my wife and me some entertainment during the month of May.
Appendix
Here are my previous wildlife photography posts:
May's photographs
- Vultures and Kites: May raptor photography practice in southeastern Pennsylvania - part 1
- Backyard wildlife photography in southeastern Pennsylvania: Something Old - Something New
- Photography meets citizen science: May's wildlife in south-eastern Pennsylvania
April's photographs
- [Citizen Science] April's Raptors in South-Eastern Pennsylvania
- Photography meets citizen science: April's wildlife in south-eastern Pennsylvania
- Learning photography with wildlife in south-eastern Pennsylvania: First encounters in the month of April
- Learning photography with wildlife in south-eastern Pennsylvania: First encounters in the month of April - part 2
- April wildlife observations in south-eastern Pennsylvania: repeated encounters with small animals
March's photographs
- Backyard Photography in Chester County, Pennsylvania during March 2026: Warm-up Shots
- [Citizen Science] Observations of Small Birds and Animals in South-eastern Pennsylvania from March of 2026
- [Citizen Science] The Raptors of March in South-Eastern Pennsylvania
Thank you for your attention!
All photos above were taken by me with a Nikon P1000 camera. I'm sharing them under the CC BY 4.0 license (share & adapt freely with attribution to the original source).