Totals for 19 September 1998/   Season Totals

Turkey Vulture   0/  4
Black Vulture   0/  2
Osprey   2/  12
Swallow-tailed Kite   1/  57
White-tailed Kite   0/  18
Mississippi Kite   49/  1773
Northern Harrier   6/  41
Sharp-shinned Hawk   90/  143
Cooper's Hawk   28/  84
Unid. Accipiter   13/  34
Red-shouldered Hawk   1/  25
Broad-winged Hawk   194/  2609
Swainson's Hawk   0/  9
Red-tailed Hawk   0/  3
Unid. Buteo   0/  15
American Kestrel   18/  171
Merlin   0/  3
Peregrine Falcon   0/  8
Unid. Falcon   0/  4
Crested Caracara   0/  1
Unid. Raptor   0/  27
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GRAND TOTALS   402/ 5053

Hi all! Another good day at the watch for accipiters. This is a great
opportunity to hone those Sharpie vs. Cooper's ID skills. The morning
began clear, then fog & clouds rolled in around 0830. The skies cleared
again & the birds were flying high above. Most of them seemed reluctant
to cross the water, though, with many flying back to the northeast. An
afternoon rainstorm cut the watch short, but we still got in a good seven
hours. The morning highlight was a Swallow-tailed Kite spotted by a
visitor who happened to be watching a group of Magnificent Frigatebirds
to the south of the tower out over the bay. The kite was camouflaged
quite well --good spot!  Hasta luego........Rebecca

Rebecca Smith & Richard Gibbons, Smith Point Hawk Watchers for the
Gulf Coast Bird Observatory http://www.nol.net/~criley
SPHW is sponsored by GCBO, Ornithology Group-ONC, TPWD, HawkWatch Int'l.,
and the Exxon Baytown
Use of computer provided by Tx PIF, TPWD, and Compaq Computer Corp