Hello from The Hill! And then we have .... Halloween!!! Boo again. Jo reports the hill didn't disappoint. Numbers were still about average for the date, but watchers were rewarded with some "strange" sightings.
TV 286
SW 1
TOTALS 287
Yup, just about right for the time of season, all right. Jo notes the greater white-fronted geese powered through at over 100. She also counted 5 curlew, 600 plus white pelicans and 9 sandies (local lingo for sandhill cranes).
From the "I tot I taw a puddy tat!!" department: Jo also reports there were several strange critters on the hill early in the AM. She says one looked seriously like a green jay sporting a blue face and yellow tail feathers. (interesting choice of Halloween mask for that bird). The other bird had a barred chest and some nifty mustach marks under some fierce eyes. And along about mid day, a frisky whiskered purring puddy tat arrived on the hill. Jo notes it was an interesting day at HB. Happy Halloween day to all; hope it was safe. My office will be enjoying the bounty of excess Halloween candy today, as no doubt will everyone's else's ...
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HAWK CODES: BV black vulture; TV turkey vulture; OS osprey; SK swallow-tailed kite; WK white-tailed kite; MK Miss. kite; BE bald eagle; NH northern harrier; SS sharpshinned hawk; CH Cooper's hawk; NG northern goshawk; RS red-shouldered hawk; BW broadwinged hawk; SW Swainson's hawk; RT red-tailed hawk; FH ferruginous hawk; WT white-tailed hawk; ST short-tailed hawk; ZT zone-tailed hawk; HH Harris's hawk; RL rough-legged hawk; GE golden eagle; AK American kestrel; ML merlin; PG peregrine falcon; PR prairie falcon; AP aplomado falcon; CC crested caracara; UA unidentified accipiter; UB unidentified buteo; UF unidentified falcon; UE unidentified eagle; UU unidentified raptor.
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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. Plus a cast of many, many volunteers, whose help over the years is so gratefully appreciated!
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The Hazel Bazemore Hawk Watch appreciates the many volunteers and supporters that have helped bring the watch into the forefront of migration studies. Thanks to Electrotex, Inc. for sponsoring our web site; Hawk Watch International for their on-going support and sponsorship of the watch efforts. Also to the Northwest Business Association; Central and South West Services, Inc./Central Power and Light; Nature's Bird Center; Margaret Cullinan Wray Charitable Trust; the Trull Foundation; the Audubon Outdoor Club of Corpus Christi; Haynes Realty; H.E.B. Food Stores; Charter Bank; and Tejas Veterinary Clinic.
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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/