ML26292041

Age

Not specified

Sex

Not specified

Media notes

Black Vulture, Laguna Lake, San Luis Obispo, California on 28 Feb 2016; photo digiscoped with cell phone

Observation details

One with Turkey Vultures in the grassland on the east side of the Lakeside Trail just north of the end of the lake frontage road and boat launch. I could not see what attracted the birds to this spot. Several times the Black Vulture intimidated the nearby Turkey Vultures to move out of its way as it hopped toward them. I first noticed this bird's gray, wrinkled head and all black plumage. It was similar in size to the Turkey Vultures although it was clearly shorter tailed. The Turkey Vultures were overall brownish and had more cinnamon colored feather edges on their back and wing feathers. The bill and legs were gray and the bill tip showed a pale pearly colored nail. These birds were in grasses making comparison of leg length impossible. At times the Black Vulture's eye appeared brown with a slight reddish tinge. Once it lifted its wings as it intimidated a Turkey Vulture, which showed pale primary shafts and less, but still pale primary feathers. After watching the bird for about 15 minutes, the Turkey Vultures began flying away and the Black Vulture joined them. As the Black Vulture flew away it showed a more floppy wing beat and flew with four or five wing beats and then a glide repeated many times as it gained altitude. In flight it showed a short tail (shorter than the Turkey Vultures) that was pointed at the outer edge.In flight the six outer primaries appeared pale gray and P6 was missing on one of the wings. The bird was last seen soaring toward Foothill Road. This is presumably the same Black Vulture first seen in San Luis Obispo County on February 10, 2013 and present annually since then, though never seen between the end of April and the beginning of October. The two previous reports this winter were at Morro Rock on December 14, 2015 and at Cal Poly State University in San Luis Obispo on February 13, 2016. Since 2013 it has ranged from Cayucos to San Luis Obispo.

Technical information

Model

SM-G900V

ISO

50

Focal length

4.8 mm

Flash

Flash did not fire

f-stop

f/2.2

Shutter speed

1/120 sec

Dimensions

1258 pixels x 1076 pixels

Original file size

472.47 KB