Vultures and Hawks in Kitchener-Waterloo

by Sarah
(Kitchener, Ontario, Canada)

On March 29th I went out around 5:15 to walk my dog and spotted a group of about 10 - 15 Vultures with red faces or heads flying low.

I live across from a marsh area and they seemed to be circling around looking for something.

The marsh is small and it's definitely a residential area, not a country area, but not far away are some surrounding country towns.

They circled around and went high into the sky. I followed them for about 30 minutes as they flew higher and continued to circle.

They kept changing location and didn't get any closer to the ground, and they were too far away for a good picture.

They looked huge which is why I first noticed them when they were flying low, and very distinct from other black birds in the area.

I didn't know vultures were in this area and was really surprised.

I'd been watching the sky a bit more because 2-3 weeks ago I spotted a brown and white hawk hanging out around the marsh across the street.

I've seen the Hawk maybe 5 times. It seems to stick around the same area, sitting on a street light or in a few small trees nearby. I haven't been able to get close enough to determine which kind it is.

Any ideas?

Thanks for your report of your bird sightings - perhaps one of our readers from the K-W area might know what the hawk was, but I'm pretty sure that the large black bird with the red head, was a Turkey Vulture, as they are quite distinctive and the behaviour while flying is typical.