Smith Point Hawk Watch is located in Chambers County, Texas. The count is
conducted from a watchtower situated in the Candy Abshier Wildlife
Management Area. From I-10 take Hwy. 61 south (exit 512 from W, exit 513
from E) to FM 562. Follow 562 approximately 20 miles into Smith Point.
Hawk Watch signs are posted and will lead you to the watch tower.

Totals for 25 September 1998/ Season Totals

Turkey Vulture   0/  4
Black Vulture   0/  9
Osprey   2/  19
Swallow-tailed Kite   0/  57
White-tailed Kite   0/  18
Mississippi Kite   162/  2128
Northern Harrier   15/  78
Sharp-shinned Hawk   392/  1061
Cooper's Hawk   39/  290
Unid. Accipiter   5/  117
Red-shouldered Hawk   0/  30
Broad-winged Hawk   569/  5457
Swainson's Hawk   0/  9
Red-tailed Hawk   0/  9
Unid. Buteo   0/  17
American Kestrel   109/  402
Merlin   0/  10
Peregrine Falcon   0/  10
Unid. Falcon   3/  10
Crested Caracara   0/  1
Unid. Raptor   0/  33
--------------------------------------------
GRAND TOTALS   1296/ 9736

The morning got off to a quick start with bunches of Sharp-shinned Hawks
in the sky when we reached the tower at sunrise. They kept on coming all
day, but over half of the day's total was counted within the first two
hours. The cooler morning temperatures & hazy conditions did not seem to
put a damper on flying today. The Broad-wingeds were up early, as well as
Missippi Kites. The afternoon brought heat & sun, with the wind shifting
from the northeast to the east and picking up considerably. Around noon,
we started to see a lot of Kestrels coming through in small groupings. It
seemed that whenever you looked up, there was a Kestrel overhead. Many of
them could be seen preying upon & snacking upon dragonflies.
For those of you planning to visit this weekend, the field is dry & you
should be able to drive up to the tower (unless, of course, it rains
again). Also, i hope i am not jumping the gun, but the mosquitoes seem to
have diminished substantially. Hurrah! THIS IS NOT A PROMISE!!!!!!! Just
in case, come prepared for the worst.

Hasta later........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