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 27 September 1998/ Season Totals

Turkey Vulture   0/  4
Black Vulture   0/  9
Osprey   2/  22
Swallow-tailed Kite   1/  59
White-tailed Kite   0/  19
Mississippi Kite   91/  2237
Northern Harrier   13/  101
Sharp-shinned Hawk   446/  1810
Cooper's Hawk   89/  387
Unid. Accipiter   0/  122
Red-shouldered Hawk   1/  31
Broad-winged Hawk   1338/  6786
Swainson's Hawk   0/  9
Red-tailed Hawk   0/  9
Unid. Buteo   0/  17
American Kestrel   61/  511
Merlin   2/  16
Peregrine Falcon   5/  28
Unid. Falcon   0/  10
Crested Caracara   0/  1
Unid. Raptor   0/  33
--------------------------------------------
GRAND TOTALS   2,049/ 12,228

Greetings Hawk Watchers.

        The weather was great today: a North wind and fast thermals.  It really
created a phenomenal vision.

         Beginning 10 minutes before sunrise, we had over two hundred Sharpies
within an hour!  I think we can recite all mythical, tangible, and
hypothetical differences between Coop's and Sharpies now.  At 6:30 AM we
had a Swallow- Tailed Kite give a fantastic one-hour performance
strutting back and forth over and around the tower.  If I remember
correctly, snooze you lose, snore you lose more.  Our two dedicated early
visitors, Craig and Tom can attest to the spine tingling, amber sun
drenched beauty.  Hopefully, We will be seeing some of the vid-clips on
the GCBO home page soon.

        The visitors were also gracious and enthusiastic in response to our best
day yet in numbers and diversity.  Thanks to everyone for watching the
sky as I attempted to re-zero my sky -smacked ojos.

Paz y Amor, -rico

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

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