Thanks, Dave!
Just in case there is some confusion out there, Dave's vulture is a Black Vulture NOT and a juvenile Turkey Vulture.
This might make a good time to review the ID marks, some of which we don't employ unless close to these birds. The whitish (pale silvery gray) patch on Black Vulture is on the underside of the outermost primaries (outer 6). Let's say we can't be sure if there is or isn't white there, as in Dave's case. Then it is useful to note how Black Vulture has the pale area ONLY on those outer primaries, ABRUPTLY changing to solid black across the rest of the flight feathers. You can see that abrupt contrast on the underside of the left wing in Dave's photo. Turkey Vulture is pale, silvery gray across the entire underside of the flight feathers (the wing linings are black and contrast with those flight feathers, unlike Black Vulture which is all black across the inner under wing). There are shape and flight style differences between the species, but for the sake of this situation, those don't help.
Okay, that's how the underwing differs. What about the upperwing? Look at the uplifted right wing in Dave's photo. The ivory white shaft in each outer primary is prominent; the rest of the flight feathers have black shafts, and again the shift is abrupt from outer to inner primaries. Compare that to Turkey Vulture of any age. TV's have dark brown primary shafts, which sometimes reflect light and look pale, but never appear bright white like this bird. See for yourself: dorsal view of Black Vulture primaries--http://www.fws.gov/lab/featheratlas/feather.php?Bird=BLVU_wing_adult; dorsal view of Turkey Vulture primaries--http://www.fws.gov/lab/featheratlas/feather.php?Bird=TUVU_primary_adult
Still not convinced? Let's look at the head. Turkey Vultures, even juveniles, have LARGE NOSTRILS, all the better to smell carrion with. Black Vulture shows only narrow slits, like Dave's bird. Turkey Vultures have acute olfactory senses and locate rotting flesh from great distances using those big nostrils. Lastly, the skin around the head on Dave's bird is clearly coarse and wrinkled around the base. Young Turkey Vultures have a sort of gray fuzz and lack the "beautiful" corrugations of the Black Vulture's neck.
How has the status of these vultures changed in New England?
When I moved to Connecticut in the mid 1980s, there were still fewer than 30 records of Black Vulture for that state. Most records then were from mid-summer to early winter (December). By comparison to Maine's north, I think there were only four records of Black Vulture in Nova Scotia up through the mid 1980s. Over the past 30 years, Black Vulture has become a regular, even common sight in Connecticut and southern New England. We are slowly seeing them occur with more frequency in Maine, but they are still rare. Turkey Vulture advanced its range similarly but starting 80 years earlier. Up through the 1920s, there were under 20 records for Connecticut; it first nested there in the late 1940s and continued to increase and spread northward into New England subsequently. The spread of Turkey Vulture north has continued in the past 15 years in Maine. By the turn of the century, it was a routine sight for me only from Augusta south; now Turkey Vulture is a prominent harbinger of spring over central Maine and the Mid-coast, with birds as far north as Aroostook County not unexpected. Here's to global warming!
Louis Bevier
Fairfield
> On Aug 31, 2015, at 6:37 AM, David Small <docfinsdave@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Thanks everyone who commented. Here's some additional information:
> the photo was backlight, I did not see any white on the under wings and the bird seemed as large as the adult t.v. that flew off.
> It was photographed on the old I.P. road in Eustis where it had been feeding on a moose carcass.
>
> Here's a link.
>
> http://photosbychance.zenfolio.com/p432832521/h557b4ce5#h557b4ce5
>
> Cheers,
> Dave
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