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View day list of other species seen on 9-14-97 at
Hazel Bazemore NEW!
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Rpt Date: September 14, 1997
Site: Hazel Bazemore
County Park
Corpus Christi, Nueces County, TX
27 deg. 51.936"
97 deg. 38.560"
Reports: Patty Beasley (pbeasley@electrotex.com)
Counter: Patty Beasley
(site manned 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Aug 15-Nov 15)
Sponsors: Hawk Watch International
Support: Hawk Migration Association of
North America
Audubon Outdoor Club of Corpus Christi
8/15/97 forward
Species
9/14 Watch to Date
Black vulture 0
23
Turkey vulture 0
1
Osprey
3 12
Swallow-tail kite 0 7
Miss. kite
15 2,527
Northern harrier 0
2
Sharp-shin hawk 0
11
Cooper's hawk 0
12
Red-shoulder hawk 3 10
Broadwing hawk 514
1,197
Swainson's hawk 9
101
White-tail hawk 0
1
Red-tail hawk 0
3
Amer. kestrel 1
5
Merlin
0 3
Peregrine falcon 0
3
Unk accipiter 6
9
Unk. buteo
0 5
Unk. falcon 0
2
Unk. raptor 3
50
Total:
551 3,984
NOTE: You know, each hawk watch inevitably leaves us with
our own memories of notable events. Today certainly goes down in the books
as a "keeper." At 4:25pm (yes, I did look at my watch!), an immature broadwing
appeared literally right on top of us, coming up to the watch site from
the riverbottoms. It cleared the brushline over the bluff, cruising about
four feet off the ground, and proceeded to fly RIGHT THROUGH THE MIDDLE
OF THE HAWK WATCH SITE! We experienced birders were so shocked at the proximity
of the appearance that all we could do was stand there gaping, with our
collective jaws on the ground, with only one or two collecting enough wits
about them to get binoculars up for an even closer pin-feather counting
view!! The broadwing glanced left, then right as it crossed over the little
roadway in front of our watch site, angled over to the east edge, missing
observer Bob Creglow's head by less than a foot, flew UP a little more
to clear the wire fence between the hawk watch site and the 17th tee of
the country club golf course behind us, and settled into a mesquite tree
at the back of the tee box! You could have heard a pin drop! We finally
all took a breath and broke free of our stupor and moved to get a clear
look at the hawk, still sitting in the tree. It tolerated us and some approaching
golfers for about 3 more seconds, then lazily took off and headed east
into the brush to find a perch for the night. Wow! We'll be talking about
that one for the rest of the eason! On hand for the event: Bob and Jo Creglow,
Bill and Patty Beasley, Jimmy Swartz, and Joyce Penny.
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Hazel Bazemore County Park has been the site of raptor migration
counts
since the 1970's. Beginning in 1990, the Hawk Migration Association
of
North America began conducting 10-day standardized counts for fall
raptor
migration. In 1997, Hawk Watch International sponsored the first
3-month
standardized count for the fall raptor migration. The tiny county
park was
once the best-kept raptor migration secret in the country, but
is rapidly
gaining recognition as the having the highest concentration of
migrating
raptors of any one location in the continental United States. Peak
fall
migration days bring well over 100,000 raptors in one day through
the
Nueces River basin and bluff located within the park boundaries.
Season
totals can run well over as high as half a million. Funneling actions
of
fall weather systems aid in the consolidation over the park of
migrating
raptors from both the Central and Eastern flyways, and on occasion,
we
suspect, some Western flyway incursions.
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To find Hazel Bazemore Park take FM624 west from SH77 for about
1 mile to
the road on the right with a park sign marking it. The park road
is just on
the west side of the water canal that crosses FM624. For more information,
see the Hazel
Bazemore page on the Audubon Outdoor Club web site.
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To go to the hawk watch site, go in the park entrance, make a left
as soon
as you get across the speed bump, and follow the winding road to
the crest
of the hill (past the restrooms, a covered picnic pavilion and
around the next bend).
Where the road makes a bend to the left is where we park, and sit
under the trees
(up against the 17th tee box to the golf course behind the park).
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