October 20, 1999

OK everyone, it's quiz time again! I saw an interesting bird today at

2:45pm. I have my own thoughts about the identity of this hawk but I

would like to describe it for all of you and hopefully get some feedback.

If my notes are good and we come to the same conclusion I will feel

better. I did photograph the bird but I am not confident that the

pictures will be definitive. Unfortunately I was alone at the time. Here

are my notes:

Buteo-shaped hawk with completely black head, neck/throat, and body. It

also had black underwing coverts. Flight feathers were noticeably lighter

than underwing coverts but were quite darkly barred. Above, it appeared

uniformly black.

It had wide ("fat") wings which were held flat (no dihedral). Wings were

plank-like, not noticeably rounded at ends (but that was difficult to

assess). The tail was short, with a thin white terminal band, then a

thick black band, and then a thick white band at the base (closest to the

body). It had a prominent yellow cere. Overall it had the first

impression of a black vulture because of its shape plus other

intangibles. It was near several turkey vultures and a broad-winged hawk,

and was betweeen those species in size (closer to the broad-winged).

I had the hawk in view for 5 minutes and got a good look. For now, I have

entered it as an "unidentified buteo". I appreciate your responses.

Otherwise, the bird of the day was an immature golden eagle. It came very

close and low, flashing the white wing patches and tail band for us. The

broad-wingeds were up early today and hung around longer than usual. The

numbers kept growing until at one point there were about 550 stretched

across the sky. Thermal activity was nearly non-existent and the hawks

were all very low. Today's count:

227 Turkey Vulture

1 Osprey

14 Northern Harrier

40 Sharp-shinned Hawk

48 Cooper's Hawk

1 Red-shouldered Hawk

695 Broad-winged Hawk

9 Swainson's Hawk

8 Red-tailed Hawk

1 Golden Eagle

20 American Kestrel

1 Merlin

1 Peregrine Falcon

2 Unid. buteo

3 Unid. raptor

1071 Total Hawks

Until tomorrow,

Kyle McCarty

Official counter

Smith Point Hawk Watch is made possible by donations from Exxon,

Hawkwatch International, Houston O.G., Gulf Coast Bird Observatory, and

Texas Parks and Wildlife Department.

Computer donated by Texas Partners in Flight and Compaq. Thank you all.

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