Hazel Bazemore Hawk Watch, Fall 1999
Date:   09-24-99

Hi everyone,

Okay, let me just say this right off; there is nothing more frustrating during a hawk watch than knowing with absolute certainty that raptors numbering into the six figure range are headed towards the watch, then NOT being able to see but a very small fraction of them! Drips and drops of mist trying to pass as itsy bitsy clouds would grace the watch from time to time today, but for the most part, it was a bright blue, high haze day that allowed the broadies we did see to stay well above the legal migration height limit (there must be some sort of legal limit these guys can fly overhead, don't you think?). We even had the little suckers on radar; Frank Peace scooted over to the NWS offices to grab a to-the-minute printout. There they were on the printout; we could even see some on the printout that had already passed by. And right on time, here came the big streams. And ... there they went ... the majority apparently passing far enough to the west of the watch as to be out of our sight. Frank estimated 100,000-plus broadwings in the strings and strands we saw on radar. Our actual visual tally was less than a third of that number, most of which passed by between 1pm to 3pm central time. Arrrghhh!!!

We could see some of the headwaters of broadies, and we knew from what we could see winking in and out behind the barely-more-visible kettles that there had to be a lot more behind. We had some good kettles ranging in numbers of 4860, 3610, 2860, and 5200, and a few good groups that were a little closer in, but all in all, frustrating! Very frustrating! As a matter of fact, the best quote of the day came from one gentleman who shook his head after an attempt to spot up some of the distant kettles, and said "I've never been more frustrated and had so much fun in all my life!" Yeah, boy, we know how he felt!

We had wonderful support on the hill again today; a big welcome to all!  By the way, a note to Bob Pettit up at Holiday Beach HW in Ontario; we've decided to kidnap Steve Greidanos and keep him here at Hazel Bazemore. Just kidding! But we really have enjoyed Steve's visit from the Holiday Beach watch.

Welcome also to Marian and Jeffrey Kraus from the Lake Erie area; they had a good time hawking around south Texas before making it to the watch site today. Just happened to mention they saw a zone-tailed hawk this morning in a group of turkey vultures near the little south Texas town of Sarita. Excellent catch; that's a very good hawk around here, as they usually are farther west of us. We do get them from time to time, though; we've already had two at this fall's watch. Danny from Ireland; very glad to have you on site, too!

Most of the usual suspects on the day bird list; a couple notables: orange-crowned warbler and northern waterthrush. The green jays and kiskadees made appearances, as did our resident roadrunner, which were life birds for some of our visitors today. Also recorded 484 white pelicans and about one hundred anhingas for the day.

We're all on pins and needles now, knowing we're coming into the peak period and anxious to see what tomorrow brings. Okay; here are the numbers:

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0....... Black Vulture (YTD: 102)
0....... Turkey Vulture (YTD: 5)
0....... Swallow-tailed Kites (YTD: 30)
10...... Osprey (YTD: 79)
6....... Mississippi Kite (YTD: 5,486)
0....... Bald Eagle (YTD: 2) (9-22 imm.)
2....... Northern Harrier (YTD: 48)
11...... Sharp-shinned Hawk (YTD: 312)
8....... Cooper's Hawk (YTD: 181)
0....... Harris's Hawk (YTD: 6)
0....... Red-shouldered Hawk (YTD: 18)
29,621.. Broad-winged Hawk (YTD: 318,494) (3 dark morph)
0....... Swainson's Hawk (YTD: 75)
0....... Ferruginous Hawk (9/18: DM juv)(9/23 DM)(YTD: 4)
0....... White-tailed Hawk (YTD: 3)
0....... Zone-tailed Hawk (YTD: 2)
1....... Red-tailed Hawk (YTD: 62) (2 dark morph)
0....... Crested Caracara (YTD: 2)
4....... American Kestrel (YTD: 86)
0....... Merlin (YTD: 13)
2....... Peregrine Falcon (YTD: 43)
2....... Prairie Falcon (YTD: 23)
0....... Aplomado Falcon (YTD: 1)
5....... Unidentified Accipiter (YTD: 46)
1....... Unidentified Buteo (YTD: 24)
8....... Unidentified Falcon (YTD: 30)
1....... Unidentified Raptor (YTD: 988)

Total: 29,682 (YTD: 326,171)

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For those keeping tally; the majority of the broadies started coming in after liberal applications of chocolate! Coincidence? Mmmmm, I think not, <grin!>!

Oh, one more little tale before I go. As you may or may not remember, our hawk watch site sits adjacent to the tee box of the 17th hole of a local country club. Golfers often come over to the fence to see how (and what!) we're doing. Our usual greeting is to ask how many birdies we've each had (yeah, I know, it's pretty weak golf humor, but hey, it breaks the ice!). ne gentleman came up today and mentioned he was playing a stray ball a little farther down the fairway the other day, when he pulled up short of his golf ball to find a "huge hawk" (his words!) perched quietly in a tree next to the ball, watching every move he made! The golfer decided discretion was the better part of a mulligan, and backed off; he wasn't sure the hawk would let him take a whack at the ball at such a close range. We figured he encountered one of the resident red-tails, from the description and area seen. A red-tail in almost the same spot thrilled some teenagers last weekend while they were taking a stroll down the road; it flew across the road as they passed by. The teens were so surprised and excited at the encounter that they came by the site and told us, then turned around and made a second pass, hoping to see it again (and did!).

- Cheers from Patty Beasley, Joel Simon, Fernando Ramos, Ryan Wagner, and the rest of the HBHW cast and crew!