Biologist Bracken Brown couldn’t believe his eyes when he spotted the seemingly out-of-place bird soaring through the sky. “I always enjoy doing roost counts, watching a column of vultures catch ...

Seen as harbingers of death and disease, staples of horror films and Halloween decor, vultures actually play an important role in nature.

ANDOVER — Feathered friends spread their wings and perched in the limelight Saturday morning as folks got an up-close glimpse of three different raptors found in the skies above the Merrimack Valley.

Thousands of hawks, eagles, falcons, vultures, songbirds, water birds and others are expected to make the crossing this ...