Hazel Bazemore Hawk Watch, Fall 1998

Report Date:  10/30/98

Greg Rider, our Education intern from Hawk Watch International was lead counter of the watch today for his first time in charge of the watch, and he has a great story! So I'm going to let Greg tell you all about it in his own words!

"Hi, this is Greg, Joel put me in charge today.  No sight of your Merlin, maybe tomorrow.  I've been having a really good time doing the presentations.  But today I didn't have a program so I was in charge of the watch.  I was very excited but nervous.  We saw a lot of TV's and a few others.  Jim Hailey was out for most of the day, so around 12:30 Joel had to run home to make a few phone calls.  So he left, and Jim and I were scanning the sky. Not more than 10 minutes after Joel left, I spotted an accipiter. We were both looking at it and then two large birds came out of the cloud.  Well, we both watched them and they were very high up.  Jim said, "I see white on one of the tails".  So I ran to get the scope; then I got them in the scope and we both saw white on the other one's head.  We watched them pass by several TV's; they were traveling very quickly from west to east, then out of sight.  Well, of course, Jim said, "two adult Bald Eagles", and that is how we wrote them down.  We both forgot about the accipiter so it went down as a UA. A short time later, Joel came back and was very surprised and happy, but wished he didn't always have to be making phone calls.  Well, I guess that what you call a little beginner's luck when it's your first day in charge!"

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Murphy's Law, ha! Wow, talk about beginner's luck! Good job, Greg; we'll have to just keep you around awhile longer, ha! Way to go, Greg; excellent job, good report, and a great way spend your first day in charge of a hawk watch, isn't it!

Greg has been visiting area schools and making many presentations on raptors to the kids during his tenure here. He's from Hocking College in Ohio, and has been doing just a great job; a real ball of energy! For those of you who visited us during the September Celebration of Flight, Greg was the one who made all those wonderful informational display boards, conceptualized by Joel and Greg.

Now, Jim Hailey, for those who don't know him <grin!> is one of our local birders, and has extensive birding experience in a wide range of areas around the country. Jim's probably seen more bald eagles in every stage of development than any ten of us combined. Jim often travels for his summer breaks from college teaching to go volunteer at national and state parks around the country, birding along the way and doing census counts, etc. for the parks, etc. Jim just finished an amazing trip to Alaska this past summer; we're working on digitizing his daily journal to post on the web site. It's a real breath-taking 3-D look at what he and his wife saw and experienced while driving their travel trailer "The Paisano" from Corpus Christi, Texas to Alaska and back. (We'll let youi know when it's available on-line.)

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Species.................Today...(Season-to-date)
Black Vultures..........0.......(85)
Turkey Vultures.........737.....(2,847)
Osprey..................0.......(176)
Swallow-tailed Kite.....0.......(6)
WT/BS Kite..............0.......(6)
Mississippi Kite........0.......(3,583)
Bald Eagle..............2.......(2)
No. Harrier.............0.......(172)
Sharp-shinned Hawk......0.......(1,168)
Cooper's Hawk...........1.......(241)
Harris's Hawk...........0.......(5)
Red-shouldered Hawk.....0.......(38)
Broad-winged Hawk.......0.......(987,220)
................................(NOTE: 1 dm on 9-27, 13 on 10-8)
................................(NOTE: 184 dm on 10-9!)
................................(NOTE: 15 dm on 10-10!)
Swainson's Hawk.........0.......(6,779)
................................(NOTE: 1 dm on 10-3
................................(NOTE: 1 choc morph 10-7)
................................(NOTE: 1 dm on 10-9)
White-tailed Hawk.......0.......(4)
Red-tailed Hawk.........0.......(118)
Crested Caracara........0.......(1)
Am. Kestrel.............0.......(436)
Merlin..................0.......(27)
Peregrine Falcon........1.......(160)
Prairie Falcon..........0.......(6)
Unidentified Accip......3.......(303)
Unidentified Buteo......0.......(25)
Unidentified Falcon.....0.......(37)
Unidentified Raptor.....0.......(4,368)
Today's total...........744.....(1,007,813)

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No dicky birds list today.

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Keep that chocolate flowing!

- Patty Beasley, Joel Simon, Glenn Swartz and Greg Rider