I had this large Raptor on a telephone pole in front of my house. I also saw it flying around. It is larger than a Red Tail Hawk and did not have the red tail or the right face. It looks like a Turkey Buzzard and is about the same size but it had a short neck more like an Eagle or Hawk and a fully feathered head. In flight it appeared dark underneath.
Does anybody know what this majestic looking bird was?
Next question, I was getting some wood from my wood pile and looked up and saw this possible paper wasp nest. Do you think I have correctly identified it.
Do you know if bald-faced hornets are a beneficial or dangerous insect to have around?
It looks like it is not the Common Black Hawk as the range is wrong. I am in New Jersey and the beak was not black but had the bit of red like Turkey Buzzards.
It looks like a Turkey Vulture to me. An image search shows some pics of TV’s with less bald heads, like this one. Perhaps it’s a younger bird that hasn’t developed the full bald head or they grow more feathers on their heads in the winter?
I’m pretty sure your bird is a turkey vulture–that beak is pretty distinctive. I think the head looks fully-feathered because of your angle of view. Does the bird seem a bit unsteady in flight? If it rocks and tilts as it flies, it’s definitely a turkey vulture.
I, too, was reminded by the pictures of a T.V. In case you see it in flight, another distinctive characteristic is that these birds usually fly with a pronounced dihedral (wings in a V).
That image looks like a good match. The short neck was throwing me off, but the pictures you found look dead on except the under feathers in flight looked dark. Could just be an odd variant. We see a lot of Turkey Buzzards around here but the necks are always longer and heads always bald looking. This one did not look ugly enough to be a Turkey Buzzard.
I’ll keep an eye on the flight pattern* if it returns but despite not being able to get good pictures I got a fairly good look at the head over a two day period and the head was feathered and fluffy like the picture Wile E found.
The nest is a good 100’ behind the house and I am generally the only one to use the wood pile and only in the cold months. I think I leave it be.
In flight I recall it looking like a larger version of a Red Tail Hawk flying. My recollection might be off though.
The wasp nest is, I’m pretty sure, a bald-faced hornet nest. (And bald-faced hornets are actually a kind of wasp.)
They do not overwinter. The queen seeks shelter underground before the weather freezes. The workers all die. In all likelihood, the nest will disintegrate over the winter.
No, not really, unless it was some odd lighting. Turkey Vultures usually do show two-toned wings in flight, with the flight feathers paler than the wing coverts.
As Xema has explained, the bird in the photo is without question a Turkey Vulture due to the red on the bill. Black Vultures are, however, moving their range north.
Young Turkey Vultures have dark heads, and are best told from Black Vultures by their browner plumage and different size and proportions.
