Hazel Bazemore Hawk Watch, Fall 1999
Date:   08-14-99

Hello, hello! Here we go, another fall season of hawk watching kicked off today in Texas. The Hazel Bazemore Hawk Watch started one day early this fall to coincide with a special swallow-tailed kite watch conducted this weekend by the Texas Parks & Wildlife Department.

Well, no swallow-tailed kites at Hazel today, sad to say. But we're happy to report we didn't get skunked, even though temperatures rose above the century mark today, for the first time this year in the Corpus Christi area. Total migratory raptors for the day were five Swainson's hawks and one red-tailed hawk.

The local white-tailed hawk pair, along with one juvenile white-tailed hawk, gave us something to watch throughout the day while trying to stay cool. Mid-afternoon the mercury hit a peak of 101-degrees F during the weather checks, but thermometers actually tipped higher in between (actually spiked to 104-105 F under our canopies when even the breeze gave up and quit blowing for awhile). The heat index averaged 112-degrees F in the afternoon.

It's gonna be a hot weekend; tomorrow looks like more of the same with no rain or relief in sight. Didn't affect our spirits though; we had a wonderful reunion and look forward to seeing all our hawk watch buddies, both local and visiting, back on the hill this fall.

And, a big welcome to Fernando Ramos, our Hawk Watch International assistant counter for Joel Simon this fall. Fernando brings experience (and great stories!) from last year's Veracruz, Mexico Hawk Watch. We're certainly glad to have him on board. What a welcome to south Texas; century mark temps ... just wait'll September, if you think THIS is hot!

Had some nice day birds that I'll run down for you, in case you're wondering what else was flying today besides hawks:

Anhingas (5)
White-faced ibis (11)
Wood storks (7)
Upland plovers
Black-bellied plovers
Greater yellowlegs
American cardinal
Mockingbirds
Painted bunting
Orchard orioles
Long-billed curlew
Dickcissels
Blue-grey gnatcatcher
White-eyed vireo
Olive sparrow
Groove-billed anis (lots! at least a dozen in the immediate park area)
Greater kiskadees
Buff-bellied hummingbird
Barn swallows
Cave swallows
Cliff swallows
Cattle egrets
Great egret
Laughing gulls
Inca doves
White-winged doves
Mourning doves (one on nest at watch site)
White-tipped dove
Eurasian collared dove
Killdeer
Empid flycatcher sp.
Tri-color heron
Couch's kingbirds

Don't forget that chocolate (had to keep ours on ice today from the heat!) and keep your eyes skyward,

Cheers,
Patty