Report Date:  09/30/98

Well, the flood appears to have finally eased up for the moment, much to the relief of the full-time counters on the hill! But only for the moment, as we may have one more large wave coming our way, according to watches still recording passages of broadwings up north. Joel says there was lots of blue, hazy skies and few clouds today. Eyeballs are in serious need of something to "get the red out"!

Oh, I finally found that other little note on that lone scrap of paper I was looking for since scribbling it during the weekend watch. For the record keepers, we have one official dark morph broadwing on the books for the fall season. It was seen in one of those massive floods of hawks on Sunday, 9-27. Not quite the western influx of previous years; at least, not over Hazel. Anyone in the Texas valley seeing anything still? (Thank you, very much, Mike Delasantro, RGVBO Director, for your note to TexBirds on the estimated thousands of hawks passing overhead in the valley on Saturday, 9-26.)

Here are today's numbers:

Species                 Today   (Season-to-date)
Black Vultures          6       (53)
Turkey Vultures         0       (5)
Osprey                  16      (114)
Swallow-tailed Kite     0       (6)
Mississippi Kite        0       (3560)
No. Harrier             2       (87)
Sharp-shinned Hawk      44      (581)
Cooper's Hawk           9       (108)
Harris's Hawk           0       (4)
Red-shouldered Hawk     0       (32)
Broad-winged Hawk       33700   (898662) (NOTE: 1 dm on 9-27)
Swainson's Hawk         7       (221)
White-tailed Hawk       0       (3)
Red-tailed Hawk         4       (76)
Am. Kestrel             23      (210)
Merlin                  1       (20)
Peregrine Falcon        8       (107)
Prairie Falcon          0       (1)
Unidentified Accip      5       (117)
Unidentified Buteo      0       (16)
Unidentified Falcon     2       (20)
Unidentified Raptor     0       (117)
Today's total:          33827   (904121)

Glenn's Day Birds:

American White Pelican  11
Anhinga                         50
Black Vulture                   2
Turkey Vulture                  1
Osprey                          4
Northern Harrier                4
Sharp-shinned Hawk              20
Cooper's Hawk                   6
Red-shouldered Hawk             1
Broad-winged Hawk               29290
Swainson's Hawk         1
White-tailed Hawk               1
Red-tailed Hawk                 1
American Kestrel                15
Peregrine Falcon                1
Killdeer                                1
Laughing Gull                   1
Mourning Dove                   1
Inca Dove                               2
Chimney Swift                   1
Ruby-throated Hummingbird       2
Ladder-backed Woodpecker        1
Scissor-tailed Flycatcher       1
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher   1
Northern Mockingbird            3
White-eyed Vireo                1
Northern Cardinal               1
Total sp.                       `       27