Black Vulture, Hinsdale, NH, June 2015

Black Vultures have been coming to a Vulture roost in Brattleboro, VT off and on for the last several years.  The roost has been a bit north of downtown Brattleboro, right on the edge of the Connecticut River, putting it just a few feet west of the VT/NH stateline.  I first saw the Black Vultures on the evening of 10/30/07 – that day there were 4 Blacks with quite a number of Turkeys.  They flew in from the west, circled a bit, and then came in to the roost.  They were new for my VT list at the time, but never passed into NH airspace (even though they settled into the roost less than 100 ft from NH!) so I couldn’t add them to my NH list.  A few days later I was back in the morning to watch the vultures leave the roost.  Again I saw the 4 Blacks fly out of the trees, circle overhead, and fly off to the west.  And again they never crossed over into NH.

Occasional Black Vulture sightings have continued in the area during the warmer months most every year since.  Most sightings were right in Brattleboro, or nearby along the Connecticut River.  And although most were in VT, several were in NH either right along the river or in southwestern Hinsdale.  Each time another NH sighting was posted it was if they were taunting me.  Since Brattleboro was just 90 minutes away, and one of my favorite VT birding locations, I would go there a couple times each year and always keep my eyes open for Black Vultures.  But I was never lucky enough to find them.  And despite a few unsuccessful searches closer to the coast (they are sometimes seen at a roost in Newmarket), Black Vulture continued to one of the most common birds in NH that I still needed for my statelist.

Fast forward to June 2015 - There were two Black Vulture sightings on consecutive days in NH along the Connecticut River – one just south of Brattleboro and one a few miles to the north.  At least 1 bird was back!  There were no other sightings for the next week so I didn’t give it much more thought.  But then there was a report of a possible Little Blue Heron in the Brattleboro Retreat Meadows.  Although there was a pretty good chance that the sighting might be incorrect, I thought it could be worthwhile to check it out, especially by incorporating it into a Black Vulture search.  So I decided to head there the next afternoon, bird the Brattleboro marshes in the late afternoon looking for the heron, and then spend the evening watching for vultures to come into the roost.  Not only was I hoping that a Black would be in the group, but of course I hoped that I would see it in NH airspace.

The next afternoon I took a route to Brattleboro through southwestern Hinsdale, NH to maximize my time looking for vultures.  I didn’t see any vultures along the way though I always kept an eye to the sky as I was driving along.  I was now just a few miles south of Brattleboro on NH 119 when I passed by a convenience store and thought about stopping to grab a soda.  For some reason I decided not to stop, and kept driving toward my destination instead.  Less than a mile further up the road I saw 3 vultures a short distance up ahead of me and a bit to the west of the road.  I assumed they were just going to be Turkeys, but of course I needed to check them out.  Then I noticed one was smaller than the other two – could it be a Black?  They were still a little distance away, so I drove a bit farther along until they were even with me to the west.  Luckily there was a bit of a shoulder and I pulled off and quickly jumped out of the car.  One was indeed a Black Vulture!  I watched them for about a minute as the 3 birds circled a bit to the west, then headed north and soon disappeared behind some trees.

Of course it was easy to identify the Black Vulture.  The more difficult issue was determining which state these birds were in.  The stretch of NH 119 I was on at the time is immediately east of the Connecticut River, with very little land in NH between the road and the river.  The other key factor is the river itself is all in NH.  So that means there is at least a little NH airspace west of NH 119.  Thinking back to when I first spotted all 3 birds, they were just a bit west of the road, which most likely put them in NH airspace, though just barely.  Then as I watched them after I stopped, although they were to the west of me, I think they were close enough to still be in NH, likely over the river.  And then eventually they circled farther west into VT.  When they disappeared to the north I’m not sure which state they were in.  But in any case, I can definitely say I saw the Black Vulture in NH airspace at least for a little while.

Since the birds were only in view for a couple minutes it’s a good thing I didn’t stop to buy a soda.  Or for that matter, I’m lucky that I didn’t leave the house a few minutes earlier or a few minutes later.  Usually luck doesn’t play too much of a factor in finding new statebirds – but this time I was really lucky to find this bird.  Though my luck didn’t carry over to my search for the Little Blue Heron – I came up empty on that one.

Black Vulture was #356 for my NH list.  Although I’ve seen more species in a few other states, my NH statelist is definitely my best at 89 percent of the total ever seen in that state.  I’ve now seen Black Vulture in 30 states – virtually its entire range (see my statebird map below).  Though it is seen as a vagrant in a number of other states including Maine – the last New England state in which I still need this southeastern bird.

And one postscript – just a couple weeks earlier I finally added American Oystercatcher to my NH list.  At the time I remarked that the two most common birds I still needed for my NH list were the Oystercatcher and Black Vulture.  Nice to get both in the same month especially after so many attempts.  The next most common birds I still need for NH are Long-eared Owl and Atlantic Puffin.  Both are in NH most every year (Long-eareds undoubtedly nest somewhere), but are only rarely reported.