This black vulture hung around for quite a while and was only 10 to 15 feet from a window where we could watch him closely. Unlike the red-headed turkey vulture, black vultures have gray heads. Their legs are white rather than pinkish red of their cousins. The black's tail is shorter and broader in flight. No other black vultures were spotted with this group, including among the four or five birds that perched close to it.
Black vultures are southern birds that have slowly been extending their range northward.
None of the modern field guides shows them as dwelling in Connecticut yet, but they have been regularly sighted in western sections of the state. They tend to be more aggressive and will chase the larger vultures away from the food. A birder visiting from the west observed a dendroica-type warbler that possibly was a Townsend's warbler. This would be a first for Connecticut and anyone visiting this area should be aware that careful documentation is necessary for us to list this long-overdue vagrant. Townsend's warblers are birds of the West, summering in Alaska and the Yukon, and wintering in Oregon, California and southward.