ML43702271

Age and sex

Adult, Unknown sex - X

Observation details

Reported and photographed by Casey Hynes at dusk last night; then found by Doug Hitchcox and Josh Fecteau this morning. Don Mairs and I arrived in the area and first tried looking on the river side of town along 3rd Street. We had gone no further than the first corner when we saw the bird sitting on a rooftop. Stocky vulture with heavy neck ruff, black and wrinkled skin on head, dark gray legs and feet, all black body that was short at the rear. I could see white primary shafts on the outer primaries. The bill had a paler, hooked nail. The bird flew down to drink from ice melt at the edge of a driveway. I noted the white in the outer wings and short, squared tail. The bird sat on its tarsi to dip down and drink. The left eye appeared damaged, and the bird acted skittish to that side, sometimes wheeling around to its right (good eye side) to see what was "around the other side." Quite comical in motion. After drinking, the bird flew on its own up to a tall conifer, where it perched mid to lower-mid height. It is possible this is the same Black Vulture seen by Fyn Kynd in Searsmont (27-28 May this year: https://ebird.org/ebird/me/view/checklist/S29947946). That bird held its left eye closed similar to what I saw on the Farmingdale bird. With the eyelid open, the Farmingdale bird showed the damage to the eye itself. But Fyn points out that his bird perhaps had the left eye missing entirely, showing a more sunken socket. Odd coincidence if so.

Technical information

Model

Canon EOS 7D Mark II

Lens

EF300mm f/2.8L IS II USM +1.4x III

ISO

800

Focal length

420 mm

Flash

Flash did not fire, auto

f-stop

f/4.0

Shutter speed

1/1000 sec

Dimensions

3923 pixels x 2615 pixels

Original file size

1.42 MB