Black vulture.
Here yesterday I mentioned the several southern bird species that’ve begun showing up at the 44th parallel these past few decades—red-bellied woodpeckers, tufted titmice, northern cardinals, turkey vultures. Coincidentally, at the Beech Hill summit this morning, I happened upon the first black vulture I’ve ever seen in Maine.
Veery.
In fact, it might well have been the first black vulture I’d seen in many years. See, I moved to Maine from Austin, Texas, thirty years ago—which happened also to be the year I started birding. On visits back home on the 30th parallel, I recall watching both turkey and black vultures circling the juniper canyons in the hill country west of Austin. Then, perhaps eight or ten years later, I saw my first Maine turkey vulture. Now I see dozens of that species, scores, every year in the sky above the coastal hills.
Of course I’d heard that black vultures were following their larger kin northward. There’ve been sightings in southern Maine—and even in southern Knox County. I figured I’d see one eventually. But today’s bird took me wholly by surprise. Which is in itself, I suppose, no surprise.
Jack and I had hiked clear up the wooded trail and over the summit and down the open trail—watching veeries, chestnut-sided warblers, savannah sparrows—and had nearly reached the summit on our return trip, when I noticed a solitary, soaring vulture. Instinctively, I raised my camera and snapped some photos. Although still early, there happened to be a few other people there with us at that particular moment (a couple walking up behind us, three people conversing at Beech Nut), and I felt somewhat distracted. Still, in the back of my mind, I registered the white wing tips of this particular bird. They seemed noteworthy, unusual. But it wasn’t until a minute or two later, as we entered the woods again, that I realized what I must’ve just seen.
Savannah sparrow.
Jack and I descended the lower wooded trail quickly then, the faster to download and check my photos.
Sure enough, a black vulture. It’d been a gorgeous morning, 60s (F), cloudless (literally), a cleansing breeze; I’d had some decent shots of a veery; a good number of warblers were calling. And, oddly, the last four birds on my list (three of them warblers) had “black” at the beginnings of their names.
Seeing the fourth-to-last, though—the black vulture—was truly the most exciting.
Mourning dove.
Beech Hill List
Beginning at 6:45 a.m., I walked all trails.
1. White-breasted nuthatch (voice)
2. Red-eyed vireo (voice)
3. Black-capped chickadee
4. Chestnut-sided warbler
5. Hairy woodpecker (voice)
6. Veery
7. Rose-breasted grosbeak (voice)
8. Common yellowthroat
9. Eastern towhee
10. American robin
11. Gray catbird
12. American goldfinch
13. Blue jay (voice)
14. American crow (voice)
15. Northern flicker
16. American redstart (voice)
17. Ovenbird (voice)
18. Cedar waxwing
19. Mourning dove
20. Savannah sparrow
21. Song sparrow
22. Field sparrow (voice)
23. Yellow warbler (voice)
24. Purple finch (voice)
25. Chipping sparrow (voice)
26. Tufted titmouse (voice)
27. Eastern phoebe (voice)
28. Black vulture
29. Black-throated blue warbler
30. Black-and-white warbler
31. Black-throated green warbler
Elsewhere
32. Northern cardinal
33. Herring gull
Beech Nut.
Tags: American crow, American goldfinch, American redstart, American robin, black vulture, black-and-white warbler, black-capped chickadee, black-throated blue warbler, black-throated green warbler, blue jay, Cedar waxwing, chestnut-sided warbler, chipping sparrow, common yellowthroat, eastern phoebe, eastern towhee, field sparrow, gray catbird, hairy woodpecker, herring gull, mourning dove, northern cardinal, northern flicker, ovenbird, purple finch, red-eyed vireo, rose-breasted grosbeak, savannah sparrow, song sparrow, tufted titmouse, veery, white-breasted nuthatch, yellow warbler
