Vermont Rare Bird Reports 2020

Cynthia Crowley (first sighted copulating Vultures)

Photos taken with Nikon 300mm f/2.8 attached to D850.

Cynthia first spotted the adult Black Vultures in late April and had been watching them ever since. I had not previously seen Black Vultures, but I was the first to see the chick in the "nest".

Dilapidated barn in the back lot of apartment buildings in the Old North End in Burlington. Barn is missing some of its roof/wall, where the birds enter.

Vultures observed copulating in late April and early May.
Adults observed "taking shifts" incubating during June. Cynthia stopped seeing both adults together at the same time as often (or at all) some weeks.

A low, raspy hiss. Vocalization only heard when Adult is agitated.

Kyle's notes:
June 25th: Arrived to see adult BV at opening to barn. Demolition contractor shows up and starts using machinery to take debris off/out of the barn. Adult BV flies away once the machinery starts, only returns once the contractor leaves about an hour later.
June 26th: Arrived before the contractor this evening. Climbed up on debris inside barn and used my headlamp to try to locate the nest, expecting to see eggs. Instead, I see a single very young BV chick on the floor. Quickly take documentation photos, and I exit the nest area.
June 27th: Arrived just before the contractor. I show him the photo of the chick and show him where in the barn the chick is, so he can avoid it. He doesn't destroy that area of the barn, but is still working on a part VERY close to it, highly disturbing the nest. Adult leaves and eventually returns after the machinery stops. Today, I start sending emails to Fish & Wildlife, the city, and a rehabber. Later that night, the Chief Warden gets back to me, and lets me know that local wardens will assist.
June 28th: Meet 2 wardens at the nest site in the morning. Wardens call the landlord, ensure that no more work will be done on the barn. Wardens also contact the city eventually.

Cynthia's historical notes:
April 25: Two black vultures first seen on site.
At SOME point early on I'm almost sure I saw three BV's at one time. I might have only seen this once. Damn, should've taken better notes.
April 25-May 14: Seen copulating multiple times on the roof of the barn. I have one observation of them appearing to copulate twice in one day (May 3). They also do a lot of relaxing, preening, and hanging out. It's probably soon after this that they started nesting, because I saw them less often and usually only one at a time after this point.
May 19: I finally actually witnessed one of them enter into the barn (prior to this I was presuming, and my roommate claims he'd seen them going inside before this).
June 24: I walk around the back of the barn and confirm that they're nesting inside when one comes partially out and hisses at me.
June 25: Demolition begins... defer to Kyle's notes for these next few days where he became heavily involved.
June 28: Wardens show up, adult is present.
June 29: Confirmed adult is still present with the brood.

Chick was very small when first seen, probably the length of a cell phone and maybe half that height. Several folks estimated it to be around 2-3 weeks at that time, based on the photos.

The adults are clearly different from Turkey Vultures, as these vultures have a fully black face and no nostril holes.

Making this report specifically for the sighting of the chick (date & time), but including all of the notes and content we have around that. Please reach out for clarification on anything that we didn't make clear. This whole ordeal was really something...