My friend (who is not a birder but is very wildlife knowledgable) took these pics on January 1st. He described them as "hawk-like" birds "soaring" with light undersides. Said very high up so not a lot of detail. Could they possibly be Broad-winged Hawks in January in Massachusetts??
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Manchester, MA USA (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter scottk
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Crows? - and he got the light undersides wrong (reflected light)? Pass.
nartreb
Speak softly and carry a long lens
My first guess from the description was turkey vultures, but the wing position doesn't look right. Next thought was gulls, but I don't see any sign of a white head or tail. Given the numbers, not likely to be hawks, especially broad-wings. (In the last ten winters, eBird shows ONE broadwing in Gloucester, one in Connecticut, and a couple of sightings [probably the same bird] in Maine.) Gonna have to agree with the Fern here.
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In my area (mid-atlantic U.S.), crows congregate in large roosts during the winter. I was just on a walk and saw a large flock circling in just the fashion shown in the photos. Not sure if they were Fish or American Crows, but I have noticed that Fish Crows have different flocking behavior from American, e.g. Fish Crows will often fly in rather disorganized flocks.
birdmeister
Well-known member
My best guess is Ring-billed Gulls. Crows rarely soar in large groups like this, although if roosting maybe they'd swirl around some. I think the wing shape looks a bit better for gulls, and light undersides would fit. Photo quality is such that I'm not too confident in all of that.
My first thought was gulls also, but all the birds look dark against the sky, and I do not see any clear gull shapes which are usually quite distinctive. Further, as stated above, I saw exactly this type of behavior recently by crows: a semi-organized spiraling behavior starting high in the sky. So everything fits for crows.
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