Rpt Date:   November 03, 1997
Site:       Hazel Bazemore County Park
            Corpus Christi, Nueces County, TX
            27 deg. 51.936"  by  97 deg. 38.560"
Reports:    Patty Beasley (transcriber)
Counter:    Joel Simon (Hawk Watch Int'l)
            (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
            H.E. Butt, Inc.
            Central Power & Light Company
 
SPECIES             11/03    SEASON
Black vulture       3        343
Turkey vulture      55       9,675
Osprey              0        80
Swallow-tail kite   0        7
White-tail kite     1        4        (9-15, 10-24, 10-26, 11-2)
Miss. kite          0        2,965
Northern harrier    5        77
Sharp-shin hawk     13       910
Cooper's hawk       4        371
Harris' hawk        0        4        (9-20, 9-27, 10-27, 11-1)
Red-shoulder hawk   2        68       (1 Calif. morph 11-3)
Broadwing hawk      3        823,650
Swainson's hawk     1        297
White-tail hawk     0        4
Red-tail hawk       5        95       (3 Krider's subspecies)
Ferruginous hawk    0        1        (11-2)
Zone-tail hawk      0        2        (10-02, 11-2)
Rough-legged hawk   0        1        (09-27 DM)
Golden eagle        0        1        (10-27)
Caracara            0        9        (all adults so far)
Amer. kestrel       0        186
Merlin              0        25
Peregrine falcon    0        71
Prairie falcon      0        8
Unk accipiter       5        294
Unk. buteo          0        17
Unk. falcon         0        14
Unk. raptor         4        219
Total:              97       839,398
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Oh, boy, life is good! Another good day on the hill, with one bird that made the entire watch -- the California morph red-shouldered. Red, red, red was the description; the bird came through more or less on its own, and circled over the hill for several long minutes, giving everyone great views. What we lack in quantity towards the latter part of the migration, we definitely are making up for in quality, as I suspect are other hawk watches! We're now up to 25 species for the season, plus four unknown species. Not bad. Still waiting for a goshawk and gyrfalcon to make the list <grin!>.

Okay, that's the hill; now for something totally unrelated to the Hazel Bazemore Hawk Watch. This is a bit long, but has made such an impact on me, I feel pressed to share it. Bail out now and save the children; here it comes!

Some history first:  I conduct raptor surveys twice a day during my commute to and from work along Mustang Island (barrier island that runs parallel to the coast; Port Aransas on the north end and Padre Island to the south end across Packery Channel). Bill and I had been doing it for several years now, and we've had some pretty good raptors out there during various migrations. This fall has been even better, as I've already logged in one dark morph red-tail hawk, a Harlan's red-tail, and a dark-morph Swainson's hawk, in addition to the winter and resident regulars already in (4 peregrines, 12 kestrels, 12 white-tailed hawks, some harriers, etc.). Today, I logged in a rufous-morph Swainson's hawk, and this time, I actually had the camera with me (shock!). No great lens on it, compared to the usual telescopes you see on the serious photogs, but hopefully the 210mm lens will do justice to the few flight pics of the hawk trying for some prey on the ground a hundred feet or so in front of me. It was absolutely beautiful; deep chocolate brown overall, with a nice rufous wash over its wings and back.

Just as exciting, in a different way, was an interesting encounter minutes later with an osprey on the way home today. It was sitting on a "Don't Mess With Texas" highway department sign (anti-littering campaign by the state, for you out-of-staters), right on the side of the road, holding on with its talons against the backwash of trucks and cars whizzing by it at 70+ miles per hour, and seemingly content to stay there the rest of the night. After seeing it was STILL on that sign, just scant feet from the traffic lanes, on my return from shooting pics of the dark morph, I decided to stick around and check things out; make sure it was all right and not injured. I stopped my car (don't they make interesting blinds?!) about a thousand feet away. No problem. Okay; I moved closer. Still fine. Closer still. Yeah, he sees me all right [:) -- you bet he does!]. Still no worry. Okay, let's get closer and see if I can run off the rest of this film. I coast in again, this time about a hundred feet away. No worries. He's starting to preen. I don't even rate a nervous look, apparently. Okay, we'll see. Wings look good, talons still strong as he weathers a backwash from a passing garbage truck that nearly blew my sunglasses off! So I wait for another few cars, crank the motor again, goose the car and shut down, coasting in. Fifty feet out now. The osprey doesn't even look at me now. I'm not sure if this is a compliment or not, but I ease up the camera and get some shots. Now he's posing! I opt NOT to shoot the one shot I should have probably gotten, of him "messing" while on top of the 'Don't Mess With Texas' sign. Oh well. But he still hasn't moved much. I decide what the heck, let's find out for sure if he's all right and will make the night, so I goose the car up one more time and coast quietly in, to within TWENTY feet of him, and even got the car angled over to look at him out the driver's window! Now he's looking at me, as if to figure out what all the fuss is about. I raise the camera ... you guessed it; out of film! That's okay; the binos are better anyway, and I get one of the best views I've ever had in my life of an osprey. This guy is just as calm as can be, but after we commune a bit; he decides to take pity on me and show me he's really all right. The sun's already set and it's getting pretty dark. With hardly any effort at all, he spread his wings, gently tipped off the sign, and flew up to a night roost on a nearby power pole. What an amazing encounter.

Thanks for your indulgence; I'll keep tomorrow's post just to the hill (!).