ME - the Great Black Hawk

Great Black Hawk (immature) - Deering Oaks Park, Portland, Cumberland Co., ME. January 16th, 2019. 

Great Black Hawk, not a species that would have been on my radar for vagrancy to New England and yet this individual has settled down for the winter in an urban park in Portland, Maine seemingly having little trouble dealing with the extreme cold, snow and ice. The excitement around the black hawk's initial discovery in early August was huge before it promptly disappeared after spending a few days around a neighborhood in Biddeford only to reappear again in Portland in late October! After moving around and then disappearing once more, it was eventually pinned down to Deering Oaks Park in Portland where it allowed hundreds of birders to catch up with it from late November.

Naturally, I followed the story with interest but for some reason just couldn't work up the motivation for the three hour drive from Northfield until early January. That day, January 6th, Josh Layfield and I ventured to Portland and promptly dipped on the hawk, despite four or five hours of concerted effort with other birders around the park. It was simply nowhere to be seen. But in the early part of this week, a series of positive reports sparked my interest once more and I decided to make the solo trek back to Portland. Within an hour of arrival, a lovely couple from Gilsum, New Hampshire located the black hawk mantling a Gray Squirrel and were kind enough to wave me over. And there it remained for the next ninety minutes or so completely demolishing the Gray Squirrel. Watching this large raptor remain in the same spot for the best part of two hours was intriguing to say the least. It seemed oblivious to human disturbance - passers by, dog walkers, and then even the local kindergarten came out and set up camp to play in the snow no more than thirty meters from where the bird was stripping the squirrel! It completely ignored all the action going on in its immediate surroundings and just got on with the business of feeding. I admit to being very surprised at just how comfortable the black hawk was around people and its urban environment in general.

It's really intriguing to wonder just how this tropical species, breeding no closer than northern Mexico, would end up attempting to spend the winter in Maine? And even more intriguing to think that it's almost certainly the same individual photographed as a potential first ABA record on South Padre Island, Texas by Alex Lamoreaux back on April 24th!

Update January 20th: sad news via Facebook - it would appear that the Great Black Hawk was found in distressed condition and has been taken into care and transported to rehab at Avian Haven (www.avianhaven.org/). I'll be offering updates as and when more news comes in.