ALERT!: Broadwing liftoff Wednesday morning, Oct. 1; get to Hazel Bazemore before 9:00 a.m. to see it! See notes below for details.

Species            9/30      Season
Black vulture       0        51
Turkey vulture      0        1
Osprey              1        51
Swallow-tail kite   0        7
White-tail kite     0        1
Miss. kite          1        2,791
Northern harrier    1        21
Sharp-shin hawk     9        166
Cooper's hawk       99       178
Harris' hawk        0        2
Red-shoulder hawk   1        27
Broadwing hawk      12,945   772,282
Swainson's hawk     1        159
White-tail hawk     0        2
Red-tail hawk       0        14
Rough-legged hawk   0        1
Amer. kestrel       1        89
Merlin              0        9
Peregrine falcon    1        24
Prairie falcon      0        1
Unk accipiter       9        144
Unk. buteo          0        14
Unk. falcon         1        8
Unk. raptor         6        104
Total:              12,986   776,149

NOTES:  Whew ... I guess we can all collect our group breath now. Looks like we can put the chocolate down for a few days, too! (Just in time; some of us were on the verge of taking up jogging again <grin>!).

Another bluebird clear day after the morning's clouds blew off. Joel says the morning started off with a nice 2,000 bird liftoff, but slowed considerably with small kettles and small groups of broadwings through the rest of the day. Eagle-Eye Jo Creglow came through with her famous "I gotta single bird out there" -- to the tune of quite a few accipiters. Added another Swainson's and peregrine to the list, along with other assorted unid'd raptors. Nothing much out of the ordinary .... until around five o-clock, when the largest kettle of the day came through. The 10,000+ kettle streamed overhead for minutes, the birds growing closer and closer, but finally wheeling away to the south, and it grew quiet again. Folks who'd been on site all day started packing up non-essentials, and a few other last-minute visitors arrived on site to close out the watch. Or so they thought.

Apparently, the 10,000+ kettle got clear of the river bottoms and bluff, headed out southbound into more of the famous Texas brush country, and decided to make a U-turn and find some real trees to roost in, instead of the miles and miles of cactus and scrub mesquite laid out in front of them. Somewhere south of the park, the entire kettle turned, picked up some buddies, and come back for a second look. The entire kettle plus friends fell out right over the middle of the park, the golf course, the surrounding neighborhood, the riverbottoms, the river trees, and points east and west! I think the term "blanket of broadwings" would be appropriate here.

If you've never seen a broadwing in migration come in to roost, it is truly a sight to behold. Soaring lower and lower in lazy circles, he'll look the area over, until he sees JUST the right branch in JUST the right tree. When that moment happens, it's WHOA NELLY and clear the way! Folding up wings and dumping air like a peregrine zooming in for the kill, the broadwing drops straight down like a rocket and maneuvers a controlled-crash right into the tree of its choice. There's no slowing down or stopping or changing its mind midway; just streaks of brown rocketing in. Some folks say that aggressive approach discourages possible predators from seeing just where the hawk goes in. I say it's a wonder we don't see a huge puffball of feathers in the wake of the landing! A truly amazing sight!

Almost as amazing as the sight of watching them take off the next morning. One will jump out first, testing the air for thermal heat, and depending on what the others see in its body language, may come back down several times before heading aloft with others in its wake. There comes a time when a wakeup call seems to go out, and suddenly, the air is full of broadwings ... all taking to the air and circling overhead at distances within fifty feet sometimes! (And of the all-too-few years I have been privileged to see these amazing setdowns and liftoffs directly overhead, not ONE person has been "baptized" by a broadwing! That's pretty amazing in itself, when you think about it!).

For anyone in or near the Hazel Bazemore County Park area, get thyself to the park NO LATER THAN 9:00 AM on Wednesday morning, and quietly bring your spouse and children; should be a show and a half. Joel says when the dust settled, there appeared to be between 10,000 to 15,000 broadwings settled in for the night, including one enterprising broadwing who set down smack in the middle of the mesquite the observers were sitting under at the watch site! The hawk was observing the observers just as intently as they were observing him! You KNOW you've been looked over thoroughly when a raptor looks at you.

I for one was a good girl and not only went to work today, but actually stayed there the whole day (unlike yesterday <grin!>!). Needless to say, I WILL be late to work tomorrow, as close encounter liftoffs are too precious to miss! See you there!

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