Birders are trained to find things that look out of place. It is a self-training that happens naturally over the course of many years of looking for birds.

A slight movement in the bushes likely means a bird or small mammal. That bump on a fence railing or post is probably a small perching bird taking a rest. If you are canoeing and the expanse of calm water ahead of you is broken by barely distinguishable ripples, a diving duck may soon reappear on the surface.

This gift that birders have, I think, is most often on display while driving. Most people will drive by a hawk perched on a branch along the road and not even notice it. Birders, on the other hand, see the blob in the tree from a mile away. A positive identification of the blob is made as you zoom past at 65 miles an hour. Just the other day, I noticed a bald eagle perched along a river. From the road, however, it was largely hidden by branches, but something just didn’t look quite right.

This gift is most evident when driving or walking along a familiar route. If you’ve walked a trail through the woods a thousand times, you get to know where every rock, root and upturned tree is. Anything that looks out of the ordinary is immediately noted and inspected to see if it’s a bird or animal.

The other day, I came across a scene in which no special skills were necessary to notice that something wasn’t as it normally is. A tree along a familiar route was covered in large black birds. Crows were my first thought, but as I got closer, it was painfully obvious that they were vultures, dozens of them. I pulled the car over to the shoulder and noticed a tree on the opposite side of the road was covered in vultures too.

I was so intent on getting a photo or two that I didn’t stop to think about why all these vultures had gathered at this spot. Just a temporary roosting spot I assumed at the time. As I pulled away to let the vultures be, I noticed why this was suddenly a popular spot for the large scavengers. A dead deer, which appeared to have been killed a few days prior, was on the grass adjacent to the shoulder. Its hide had been torn open to expose fresh red meat for the birds.

Coincidentally, as I drove another couple hundred yards, I passed a field with about 20 wild turkeys in it. It was a successful birding day, and I hadn’t even left the car.

When I drove back to the scene about an hour later, the vultures were still there, and one was brave enough to be picking at the deer as cars zoomed past. As I drove past this time, the ribs of the deer were exposed as the vultures did their thing.

Somewhat surprisingly, the vultures were all black vultures. Turkey vultures are the more common species in New England, but black vultures are expanding their range northward into New England. The two species are often seen together, especially if there is good carrion to be had. Black vultures have dark gray bald heads and turkey vultures have the more familiar pinkish-red heads. Turkey vultures are slightly larger, but without a side-by-side comparison, it is tough to differentiate based on size in the field.

It was an exciting and welcomed scene, particularly during the slow birding days of late fall/early winter. And it was there for all to enjoy, not just those with the birding “gift.”