Yesterday, Eric Hynes at Maine Audubon sent me an eBird alert regarding a Black Vulture that was reported at Houlton on 10 August. The vulture was apparently seen at the Tim Horton's donut shop (a favored re-caffienation spot for road-weary northbound birders) located just off Interstate 95! I followed up with the reporter, Noel Dodge and he obligingly sent along a couple of photos of the bird with these details:"...The vulture flew down (moving west) across the road and perched on the
light. I saw that it was a black vulture as it flew, since it was only 15-20 meters away and then I drove over there and took some photos from my truck before having to move so as to not block traffic. As I photographed the bird stretched its wings up over its back showing the white wing tips well. A very cooperative bird!"
His attached photos (cropped a bit) are reproduced here. Pertinent features that help make the ID and separate the Black Vulture from the more likely Turkey Vulture include: black head, shorter straight bill, whitish legs, shorter tail and overall black plumage with no brown tones.
The white in the outer primaries is visible in this wing-up shot.It appears this bird's head skin is relatively smooth and the bill isn't prominently two-toned which suggests this bird is a juvenile. As a youngster, driver inexperience would explain why the bird ended up so far north of its normal range.
By my recollection this is the fourth or fifth Black Vulture reported in Maine this year and only the second ever to be found in northern Maine.
6 comments:
That is quite interesting to see!! I have seen plenty of turkey vultures...I see them just about ever day but never saw any thing like that guy!!
I will have to warn the relatives to be on the look out when they have a cook out...the meat might disappear!!!
I have a theroy ...perhaps he caught a back draft from one of those trailer trucks coming in from the south and when it stopped at the Irving Station he decided on Tim Horton!!
Hope you don't mind a little humor.. : }
Very cool! I've never seen one, but will keep my eyes open here in The Burg. I really like the second shot of the bird stretching atop the light pole.
I like the photos, particularly of the BV stretching its wings. I think BV are moving north. They were a rarity in SE Vermont, but for the past couple of years have appeared regularly. Sign of climate change?
They just keep pushing north.
We have a pair of what appear to be young black vultures in West Cumberland, Maine. This morning they
were perching on the center chimney of our cape! We have seen them several times flying at low altitudes.
4/13/2013
John Bannon
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