Hello from The Hill!

September 9, 2000:

Miss Kite--10
Sharp-shinned Hawk--1
Red-shouldered Hawk--2
Broadwinged Hawk--105
Swainson's Hawk--4
Unknown Raptor--1
TOTAL--123

Non-raptors:
3 Wood Storks

Butterflies:
Eufala Skipper
Pipevine Swallowtail
White Peacock

Beth Hahn notes: "We managed to avoid rain today and the cloud cover helped observations. We had a quick meeting with Joel yesterday and it seems as though we're on target with other years' numbers. Still no swallow tails, though hawk watching is a very Zen activity--no expectations of the day's flight seems to work best for me."

Thanks, Beth. Yup, that's a lesson we can all take heart from. The Zen of Hawk Watching ... I see a good book in this somewhere ... <grin!> .... I see the northern sites aren't doing any better than we are. At least we're seeing a few more broadwinged hawks ... the lull before the .... well, you know ....!
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Fall 2000 hawk watch crew: watch coordinator, Joel Simon (email: jsimon@electrotex.com); counters Jo Creglow, Scott Rush, Beth Hahn; and education director Thom Benedict. Joined by dozens of volunteers, a group second to none!
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The Hazel Bazemore Hawk Watch appreciates the many volunteers and supporters that have helped through the years to bring the watch into the forefront of migration studies. Thanks to Electrotex, Inc. for sponsoring our web site; Hawk Watch International for their continuing support and sponsorship of the watch efforts. Many thanks also to the Northwest Business Association; Central Power and Light; Nature's Bird Center; Margaret Cullinan Wray Charitable Trust; the Trull Foundation; the Nueces County Commissioners and the Hazel Bazemore County Park rangers and staff; and the Audubon Outdoor Club of Corpus Christi.
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Hazel Bazemore County Park is in western Nueces County, Texas, west of the central Gulf Coast city of Corpus Christi. To find it, take FM624 west from SH77 for about 1 mile to the road on the right with a park sign marking it (past a Dollar Store and cancer treatment center, on the right). The park road is just on the west side of the water canal that crosses FM624. Across the street is a car wash. Turn north and take the park road; go one half mile to the park entrance gate. To reach the fall hawk watching spot, take the park entrance, make a left as soon as you get across the speed bump, and follow the winding road to the crest of the hill (past the restrooms, a covered picnic pavilion and around the next bend). Where the road makes a bend to the left, start looking for a place to park. Watch times: 8:30am-5:00pm, Texas time.
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Cheers from your roving hawk watch reporter,
Patty Beasley, Corpus Christi, TX
Email: pbeasley@electrotex.com
Web: http://www.electrotex.com/aoc/