I’m Down For A Great Black Hawk!

For those that need proof of the effects of climate change, I for one attribute the steady stream of “firsts” to changes in climate, local weather patterns and its effect on food, as well as how it may blow birds off course.

The firsts to which I refer are birds that have their first recorded sighting in a state or country / region where there are no previous records of it having been seen there. It also lately seems that every time you think the game is over, the gifts keep on coming. Great Black Hawk, a neotropical resident from Argentina to Mexico, is the most recent gift for me and fellow birders.

By gifts, I mean the gift to us birders in seeing a rarity. There is much debate on how it portends for off-course birds themselves. Some survive, some do not: that’s how it works in nature. For me, I hope that our society isn’t making things worse.

This bird first appeared in Texas on April 24 2018. This state is a place where birders can see Common Black Hawk, but that bird has black band at the end of the tail and so the rush to confirm the ID was on.  

Having confirmed the ID, thoughts went to ‘was it (really) the ~first~ sighting?’ For unabashed listers, the dreaded specter that the bird escaped captivity ie provenance, might be a hybrid, was mis-IDed and so forth, can dash hopes of it being a “countable” bird.

It has been reported there may have been previous sightings from Texas, Arizona, and even Florida. What ever the reason, those supposed sightings have not made it into the official record.

This bird had passed all the tests, and has been accepted by the records committee of the American Birding Association! And it gets better. On Monday August 6th a juvenile Great Black Hawk was discovered in Biddeford, Maine, and remarkably, careful study of feather patterns in photos have concluded it the same bird! 

Imm. Great Black Hawk

That Thursday August 9th I would have made an attempt, but instead joined others on a more local and futile attempt at a Bridled Tern.  

Tim Heathhen and Mike Zino’s Petrel made the better choice of going for the Great Black Hawk, and succeeded. Rumor had it that the duo didn’t want others to get the bird, so they taunted it with references to elderberries and hamsters. A truly ugly scene, and the bird flew off over the ocean. That was that: the bird did not return. I had planned to try for it that weekend, but it was not to be.
 

Tim in his best taunting attire

The following Thursday August 16th I made another and this time successful attempt for the tern.  As stated, success is often the result of not quitting. Not quitting may also mean a bit of waiting.  Waiting in this case meant waiting for Thursday November 29th, when it was relocated ca. 20 miles north as the hawk flies in Deering Oaks Park in Portland.

That weekend was not doable. Dang. I was leading a birding trip to Montauk Point on Saturday, which sported beautiful weather, and Sunday was very terrible weather. It would have to wait even more. Double dang.

Not easily thwarted, a plan was hatched of course, and thoughts were to go see it on Tuesday if there were positive reports Monday. There were! But like the best laid plans of mice and powerbirders, things often go astray. Undeterred, a post on facebook and some phone calls yielded a posse avium questus. 

Pelican and I met Avian Resnick at 5:30am, for the trip up to Maine. (Note: we did not ~contract~ avian resnick, the oft confused-with debilitating disease.) Travel was pleasantly unencumbered with the traffic we saw headed in the other direction and we arrived at Deering Oaks Park by 10:45am.

It’s a nice little park in the center of downtown Portland, and navigating to the area described in the posts where it was suggested to park paid off. We put our birderer skills into use, and made our way over to the assembled mob of birders.

We were puzzled at first, as most were not actively looking at the bird. Was it there? Inquiry confirmed that it was, and a fellow birder all the way from Minnesota (!) had the bird queued up in his scope and kindly let us get a view. The Great Black Hawk was mostly obscured perched in a pine tree, but his head was visible if you knew -exactly- where to look.

Yes! Another successful twitch that yielded a lifer for Pelican, and ABA bird #721 for me. Avian and I had lots of killer looks at adults on our recent trip to Brazil, where we got up close and personal looks as they consumed fish. He lamented that we should have brought one along for us to offer it. The fellow from Minnesota recounted that when he was watching the bird at 7am in the morning, it was dining upon a squirrel.

After we were satisfied with our looks we went for a walk around the park in hopes of relocating Pine Grosbeak and Redpoll that had been reported the day before. We took note of the numerous, rather plump squirrels inhabiting the park. Their interest in us suggested that they were accustomed to being fed by park patrons.

No dice on those other birds, or much of any other interesting birds, but we returned to get some more looks at the hawk and noticed that signs had been posted for the hawk’s welfare

After a short time a Red-tailed Hawk cruised in and made a swipe at GB. They jostled for position for a few moments before GB flew off. We learned that this altercation had occurred before with GB returning. To the chagrin of birders, it was not present in the am Wednesday, but a vague report was posted after 1pm suggests that it has returned.

For us, time was fleeting and with the bird gone we went to acquire lunch and the requisite celebratory beverages. We found Shay’s Grill Pub to fit the bill, and the burgers were pretty darn good.

Celebrating good birds and the availability of good co-conspirators

"Oh crap" she thought, now there will be proof.

We hit the road, but made a pit-stop on the way in Massachussetts’ Parker River NWR. It had gotten colder and windier and there was not much around save for some Pintails and an immature Snowy Owl. Not too shabby. When we arrived back in Queens, I proclaimed: "Well that didn't suck!"  It didn't.