Carter Hill Raptor Observatory - New Hampshire Audubon

Black Vulture (Coragyps atratus)
Season Total: 1 (September 21) * 1 st Site Record
The site‟s first – and, as it turned out, Concord‟s first – black vulture was spotted by Phil Brown
as it soared with two turkey vultures on a hazy late September afternoon. Sam Lewis and Bob Quinn
were also on hand, and Bob, who has a lifelong passion of studying birds in Concord, had excellent
timing, arriving just in time to observe a few of the vulture‟s characteristic quick flaps. Though it
appeared that this flight strategy would bring the bird nowhere on such a soupy day, the three vultures
were indeed migrating along a southwestern trajectory typical of the vultures seen from Carter Hill. The
sighting of a black vulture is still cause for excitement among New Hampshire‟s birding community,
but with this species‟ northward expansion, it may only be a number of years before this bird becomes a
regular visitor to the hawk watch.
Black (left) and turkey (right) vultures. Photo by Phil Brown
Turkey Vulture (Cathartes aura)
Season Total: 223 High Count: 95 (Oct. 9)*
The classic “V” of a turkey vulture's dihedral was a frequent sight teeter-tottering over the
hawkwatch. Local birds made their daily appearances through the first half of the season, their numbers
augmented, then replaced by migrants. The peak of migration occurred between Oct. 5 th and Oct. 13 th
with 145 turkey vultures counted. Two sizable kettles were observed on 10/9, one of 45 birds, clouding
a thermal like giant, melanistic broad-winged hawks. The rather ghastly appearance of a close perched
turkey vulture is lost when the bird becomes airborne, transforming into a master soarer capable of
riding the faintest puff of breeze or stiffly-blowing gale with equal grace. Turkey vultures continue to
expand their range northward through New England and beyond every year.