[Tweeters] Possible Black Vulture N of Forks

[bill shelmerdine]

Today about 1130 we were driving south on Highway 101 north of Forks WA and observed 3 Vultures circling and rising just above the tree line.  Two were obvious Turkey Vultures (TuVu) but one appeared distinctly smaller with very broad wings and a short tail giving a distinctive flight shape.  When flapping, it seemed to have shallow, rapid wing strokes different than the deeper wing strokes of the adjacent TuVu’s.  I had one brief view of the underwing as it circled.  It looked pretty uniformly black (not two toned with darker underwing coverts), I did not see any pale at the primaries but since we were driving, it all happened pretty fast.  Sadly, views were too brief for confirmation.

We pulled over ASAP and circled back when traffic allowed.  But by then only one TuVu was visible and it dropped into the forest just before the rain settled in.  A couple more passes through the area produced no further sightings. We stuck around a bit but with the rain, all bird activity had ceased. 

The location was just south of Beaver and the southern part of the Lake Pleasant Community.  About 1/4 to 1/2 mile south of the ball fields.
Anyone traveling through this area or around the NW Olympic Peninsula might do well to carefully check through any vultures encountered. There were still quite a few TuVu’s moving through the past couple of days.

Cheers…
Bill Shelmerdine

Sent from my iPhone