Turkey Vulture, LH, Sigma

I am always one to count my blessings, but some days feature more of them to count than others. So it was that when I headed out to the high country to celebrate Earth Day, i was blessed with a gift from a great friend: the loan of a well-used Sigma 150-500mm supertelephoto zoom lens. I've always wanted something that would bring the distant natural world closer, and at full extension, this one had 2.5 times the reach of anything in my tool kit. But this capability did not come without potential drawbacks, not the least of which was that the Sigma was at the very edge of the size and weight of a lens I could successfully hold steady in my arthritis-challenged hands. While it wasn't easy, I managed to capture some decent shots of Turkey Vultures in flight without further damaging my wrists. The images are beautifully crisp and clear, a sign of a well-made lens—and they're definitely shots to include in the blessings (and wishful thinking) bag.