An Unexpected Great Black Hawk...In Maine

Well, you can't find out about everything. Somehow, I had not heard about the Great Black Hawk. It turns out that it was even seen in Texas in late April. Looking back, there were two emails sent out to the listserv, but we were in Florida and I completely missed them. The same individual would be respotted in Biddeford Pool, Maine for a few days in August. Then, at the end of November it turned up again in the middle of Portland, Maine. Where was it in between these sighings? With a range extending south from Northern Mexico, what made it choose to continue up to Portland and stay there? No one knows and we never will. Looking at the excellent pictures of it in flight that a few people got when it was spotted in Texas, I can't help but wonder how many people saw the rectangular translucent wing patches and wrote it off as an immature Red-tailed Hawk. If they did, you can't blame them. I've had to ask myself what I would have done if I had seen it briefly passing overhead. A wild individual of this species has never been spotted in the United States before (there is a small group that was brought to south Florida back in the 1970's). You read that right, it's looking like this is the FIRST Great Black Hawk to ever arrive in the United States on its own! Fortunately, I did find out about it during the second week of January and it was even still around! We were already in Tennessee for the holidays when I found out about it. Instead of heading back south, we went north. What's a two day drive to see a really cool hawk?!? Yes, we're nuts, but it's better than a four day drive from Texas! Long ago, Jim taught me a phrase that has come back to haunt him many times since "We're closer now than we will be later!" (Don't worry, he loves it, too!) Throw in all the new water birds that we might find and it was a done deal! We arrived in Portland late on the 15th and I couldn't wait to look the next day. It was cold, so we started out mid morning. We arrived at Deering Oaks Park, where it had reliably been seen, and my heart sunk. There were so many trees! The hawk could be perched anywhere among the dense branches. It had looked fairly small on the map, but the park covered a decent area. On top of that, there was a thin layer of snow on the ground but it turned out that the snow, sidewalks, and side of the roads were all covered in ice. As we slid our way across the park, I started by searching a group of spruces that it  frequented. Jim got a phone call and hung back on the sidewalk. Thank goodness he did. Another birder who had joined me suddenly turned and asked "Is that person walking towards us with you?" I couldn't see anyone. It turned out that Jim had been trying to get my attention, but every time either one of us moved, the other was hidden behind another tree. I finally saw him and he was excitedly yelling as he quickly moved across the ice towards me. The hawk was on the ground, eating, only a short distance away. Just like Jim, the hawk, and the crown gathering around it, had been blocked from my view by trees. I was getting ready to head in completely the opposite direction to look for it in another favorite spot! My pride got the better of me and I was irked that I had not found it first, but I am so glad that Jim was with me and that I didn't miss a wonderful opportunity to watch it! It was within feet of two intersecting sidewalks and stayed on the ground, eating a frozen squirrel, for at least 40 minutes. As if the whole situation wasn't strange enough, eBird's species description says that the Great Black Hawk is typically wary of people, unlike the similar Common Black Hawk. Well, this bird was going to defy that, too. While taking pictures through my scope from a decent distance, I was shocked by how calm it stayed despite all of the nearby activity. Not only were birders and photographers closing in from two sides but people walked by with their dogs, school children ran by playing, a arguing couple stood feet away having it out, and sirens blared from down the street. Doofy squirrels were even running by it less than a foot away! It was a surreal and incredible experience. 

Finally, as my fingers were losing all feeling, it flew into a ​nearby tree. After hopping around from branch to branch, it finally took off for the patch of spruces that I had originally been searching. We looked down for just a second and when we looked back up, it looked like another hawk flew into the spruces and went after the Great Black Hawk. I imagine it was the Red-tailed Hawk that people had been seeing scuffle with it. The Great Black Hawk crashed through branches and worked its way deeper into the spruce until we couldn't see it anymore. 

Deering Oaks Park

Later that day, we found out that a winter storm, Harper, was working its way across the country and likely to unload a couple feet of snow and ice on the northeast. We decided to stay through Friday, when we really should have been leaving, and visit the hawk one more time. As soon as we drove down Park Ave, I spotted it flying up into a tree. What luck! It was very close to where we had seen it a couple of days ago. I hopped out of the car and it stayed comfortably perched in the same tree for at least 30 minutes. A couple of people joined me and as we chatted, it flew in spectacular fashion across the street and out of sight between two houses. 

eBird reports showing it in flight on South Padre Island:
https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S44917797
https://ebird.org/tx/view/checklist/S44917721
https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S45023633

Audubon article about this hawk:
​​https://www.audubon.org/news/a-mexican-hawk-maine-has-somehow-survived-two-snowstorms

More info about Great Black Hawks:
https://neotropical.birds.cornell.edu/Species-Account/nb/species/grbhaw1/overview