O-kay ... now we're cooking again. After four solid days of rain (and a couple more partial days), the hawks are taking wing again. Check out Saturday and Sunday's catch below.

09-01-01 1 swallow-tailed kite, 297 Miss. kites, 3 Swainson's, and 1 peregrine.

09-02-01 1 osprey, NINE more swallow-tailed kites, 1,751 Miss. kites, 6 Swainson's, 1 red-tailed and 2 unknown buteos.

A non-raptor side note hummingbirds are pouring into the area as well. Should be a good show at the Rockport HummerBird Festival in two weeks.

September 3, 2001:

Greetings from Mockingbird Hill! (Not Blueberry Hill, as one pundit once noted ... though we've had our share of singing the blues on slooooooow days.) Here's the report for Monday, September 3

Happy Labor Day to all! Boy, how true that was today, too. Counters and a goodly number of volunteers turned out on the hill today to help count the raptor masses. Unfortunately, there were almost as many hawk watchers on the hill today as there were hawks winging overhead. Yup ... labor day is right ... the eyeballs labored mightily, but 38 was the top count of the day. Still and all, there are always bright spots, and the turnout of people sure helped the hours to pass a lot more tolerably. More rain is on the way, we're told. We get much more like last week, and we'll be hawk watching from arks.

9/3 tally 1 osprey, 34 Miss. kites, 1 Swainson's, and 2 peregrines for a total 38.

September 4-5, 2001:

By all reports, there were more mosquitoes on the hill today than hawks all season so far ... ahhh, the joys of living on the coast when tropical rains abound! Or rather, when the hawks quit abounding and the skeeters start a'breeding and a'biting. Ouch. Don't forget the repellent along with the sunscreen, hats and water. And, of course, chocolate! (Bet you thought I'd forgotten!)

09-04-01 284 Miss. kites, 1 red-shouldered, 2 Swainson's and 1 Unidentified buteo. Total 288

09-05-01 1 osprey, 1 northern harrier, 1 broadwinged. Total 3

September 6, 2001:

Okay, we're talking all out war here. The mosquitoes are racking up lots of hits on hawk watchers this week. Counters alternated counting mosquito bites with passing raptors, and the numbers on each counter were pulling even by watch end. Time to pull out the big guns and drag out the industrial strength repellent. I hear lots of chocolate will keep them at bay as well. Just another day on the hill! Here's the final tally

09-06-01 1 osprey, 28 Miss. kites, 1 Swainson's and 1 peregrine. Total 31

September 7, 2001:

09-07-01 1 osprey, 1 Swainson's, 1 white-tailed and 1 peregrine. Total 4

September 8, 2001:

09-08-01 6 osprey, 14 Miss. kites, 5 Swainson's (one nice and low for a close-up look), and 1 unknown buteo. Total 26

September 9, 2001:

09-09-01 1 osprey, 4 Miss. kites, 1 northern harrier and 1 Swainson's. Total 7

Watch rained out today when a massive frontal system blew through with winds of 29 mph steady. Rain 3.68" at watch site (first three inches in one hour).

September 10, 2001:

Monday, 09-10-01 1 osprey, 99 Miss. kites, 6 northern harrier, 2 red-shouldered, 205 BROADWINGS!!, 3 Swainson's, 4 unknown buteos and 7 unknown raptors. Total 327

Devin reports some broadies finally came in ... some literally, landing at and around the watch site for a little set-down, so there may be a few on lift-off tomorrow morning. Largest kettle was 45, as the broadies trickled across in about six different groups, plus some singles. Here we go ....!

Oh, quick note, that storm that blasted through yesterday (winds gusted to 60 mph, I'm now told) may have taken out the Texas Hawk Watches server, too. If you've been trying to access the Texas Hawk Watches web site, it's down temporarily. I'm assured it will be up shortly, though; please keep trying. I'll update the reports page there just as soon as it's back on line.

September 11-12, 2001:

09-11-01 2 osprey, 2 swallow-tailed kite, 37 Miss. kite, 3 northern harrier, 7 red-shouldered, 1,540 broadwinged, 5 Swainson's, 5 red-tailed, 2 kestrel, 2 peregrine, 2 buteo, 1 falcon, 3 raptor. Total 1,611

09-12-01 2 osprey, 115 Miss. kite, 7 harrier, 2 Cooper's, 3 red-shouldered, 3,040 broadwinged, 3 Swainson's, 1 red-tailed, 1 white-tailed, 1 kestrel, 1 peregrine, 2 buteo, 5 raptor. Total 3,183

September 13-16, 2001: 

The server for the Texas Hawk Watches (among others) blew up, and has been down for over a week. It's taken longer than expected to get the server back in service. I'm so sorry for any inconvenience; it's a frustrating situation to all of us ... especially in the wake of the terrible tragedy in NY and DC. Thank you for your patience and understanding, and please keep checking back; we hope to be back on line as soon as possible.

Hey, Kirk, keep sending those broadies, eh? Great numbers for you guys so far! Here's Hazel's harvest for the past 4

09-13-01 1 osprey, 22 Miss kite, 1 harrier, 2 Cooper's, 1 red-shouldered, 1,040 broadwinged, 4 Swainson's, 2 red-tailed, 1 Harris's, 2 peregrines, 1 caracara, 1 accipiter, 1 buteo. Total 1,079

09-14-01 1 osprey, 3 Miss kite, 1 sharpie, 1,275 broadwinged, 2 Swainson's, 1 peregrine, 1 caracara, 1 accipiter, 9 raptors. Total 1,294

09-15-01 3 osprey, 4 Miss kite, 1 sharpie, 6,071 broadwinged, 4 Swainson's, 3 red-tailed, 1 kestrel, 1 accipiter, 1 buteo, 1 raptor. Total 6,090

09-16-01 2 osprey, 1 Miss kite, 1 harrier, 1 sharpie, 1 Coop's, 3,270 broadwinged, 8 Swainson's, 3 kestrels, 1 accipiter. Total 3,291

September 17-21, 2001:

FINALLY! We're back on line on all fronts! The server for the Texas Hawk Watches went down for over a week after a major storm frontal passage, but it's back up and running. We really regret the inconvenience, but Mother Nature will have her way. Good news, you haven't missed the peak yet ... but it's coming. Broadie numbers are up this week, and fairly steadily on the rise

09-17-01 2 osprey, 1 sharpie, 752 broadies, 1 merlin, 1 buteo, 1 falcon. Total 758

09-18-01 4 osprey, 1 harrier, 2660 broadies, 3 Swainson's. Total 2,668

09-19-01 1 osprey, 1 Miss kite, 892 broadies, 1 peregrine, 1 accipiter. Total 896

09-20-01 3 osprey, 2 Miss kite, 1 harrier, 1,804 broadies, 4 Swainson's, 1 peregrine, 1 accipiter, 2 raptors. Total 1,818

09-21-01 12 osprey, 4 Miss kite, 4 harrier, 4,045 broadies, 25 Swainson's (!!), 2 Harris's, 5 kestrel, 6 peregrine, 2 accipiter, 1 buteo, 3 raptors. Total 4,117

September 22, 2001:

09-22-01 Rain and storms in the area; hawking slowed a bit today. Tomorrow we're due our first "real" cold front; should knock temps back 15 degrees or so by Monday morning. Could make for some interesting days in the coming week. Joel predicts Mon-Wed will be the peak. I'm going with Wed-Sun ... at any rate, the Celebration of Flight will kick off on Thursday, September 27th and run through Sunday, September 30. We'll look forward to seeing everyone turn out! Details are on the Hazel Bazemore main page under the "Celebration of Flight" link. In the meantime, here's the take for the day

1 osprey, 5 Miss kites, 5 harriers, 14 sharpies, 344 broadies, 5 Swainson's, 4 kestrels, 4 merlins, 1 buteo, 1 falcon. Total 384

And .... happy birthday to our intrepid counter, Karen! (Oh, was that supposed to be a secret? ... <grin!>)

September 23-24, 2001:

09-23-01 Still some rain and storms in the area on Sunday, and hawking was still slow. That's okay, Monday more than made up for it. Sunday's numbers

8 Miss kites, 6 harriers, 7 sharpies, 9 Cooper's, 813 broadies, 7 Swainson's, 6 kestrels, 1 merlins, 1 peregrine, 2 buteo, 1 falcon, 13 raptors. Total 874

09-24-01 Now we're talking! Okay, folks, all the sweating on the hill is paying off. Counters got their first looks at good-sized kettles today. Largest was 5,250, majority of the broadies came through in the afternoon ... late afternoon ... if you're in the area, there might be a bit of a liftoff tomorrow morning. Devin says the last two hours' worth of hawks came in and headed up river due west ... looking for a set down spot, but moved far enough west to be out of view of the watch site by the time they lighted. We all know how those little buggers like to move around once they pile in for a setdown, so there's no telling what will be visible from the watch site tomorrow morning. Watch was extended to 630cdt tonight for late flights. In the 5-6cdt hour, 2000+ broadies were recorded. From 6-630cdt, another 3500 were logged in. The biggest hour was 4-5cdt, where 10000+ were registered. To cool things off a tad, colder air from the season's first cold front should arrive tonight and be settled in just in time to dry things out and cool things off a tad ... temps to be in the mid-hi 80's tomorrow (a nice change from the 90's and 100+ heat indices of the season so far).

Today's count also saw the season's first bald eagle (immature) recorded over the watch site. Congrats to Vicki Simon for spotting that baby!

The 23 ospreys recorded today may also be a single-day record; we're checking! Today's count

23 ospreys, 17 Miss kites, 1 bald eagle (imm), 14 harriers, 26 sharpies, 31 Coop's, 18,615 broadies, 13 Swainson's, 4 red-tails, 1 Harris's, 28 kestrels, 8 peregrines (great falcon day!), 29 accipiters, 3 falcons, 2 buteos, 9 raptors. Total 18,823

September 25, 2001: ***

If Monday's were ever like this, we'd actually look forward to them!!

Have you guessed yet? ....

Shall I cut to the chase ... or drag it out?

Okay, okay!!

YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! A VERY GOOD day today at the hill! Surprisingly so, especially considering the winds were gusting over 20 around the Coastal Bend. Didn't slow those broadies down one whit, apparently. The passage of our first cold front over the weekend apparently greased the way for the passage of hawks today.

Here we go ... if you're not sitting down, better have a seat, put on your seatbelt, and grab a sack of your chocolates of choice

12 turkey vultures, 14 ospreys, 22 Miss kites (yeah, they're still coming through), 18 harriers, 94 sharpies, 43 Coop's, 3 red-shouldereds, (are you ready????) 291,513 broadwinged hawks!!, 23 Swainson's, 7 red-taileds, 3 white-tailed, 52 kestrels (remarkable!), 9 merlins (beyond remarkable!!), 15 peregrines (just flat cool!), 23 accipiters, 4 buteos, 3 falcons and 14 raptors ... for a grand total today of 291,872!!!! Whew! (my fingers are cramping already!)

Okay, details ... kettles started early and except for one lull period, continued through the day, but the biggest flight was VERY late ... in the 5-6 hour (all times local). The liftoff was very good; Joel says in the 9-10am hour counters recorded 14,169 broadies; from 10-11am 5,171; 11-12pm 3,109; 12-1pm 71,059; 1-2pm 17,683; 2-3pm 83 (!!); 3-4pm 1,306; 4-5pm 7,421; 5-6pm (the peak) 160,193; 6-630pm 11,672. And the broadies were STILL coming down when watch closed at 630. Joel says he had to close the watch, as so many hawks were in the air and moving from spot to spot that those already set down were mixing too much with the new arrivals, and it was almost impossible to keep track of them.

Our three new counters did an outstanding job getting baptized by broadwinged fire. Karen ended up solo counting one kettle of 30,000-some odd broadies, and hung in there until the last bird crossed her view 20 minutes later. She finished up with muscles so knotted from the effort that other counters were holding up her elbows just so she could maintain her place and keep counting. What a team effort!! Karen was later overheard to comment (once the blood rushed back into her aching arms!) that she'd counted more hawks in one kettle today than in two years at other hawk watches combined! Yep, Hazel will do that to you. Size DOES matter ... <grin!> ... and size takes on an all new definition when you're talking passages like the fall ones at Hazel Bazemore and Veracruz, Mexico (heads up, Raul! We're sending you some birds!).

Hawk watch veteran Glenn Swartz teamed up with Joel Simon (Together again! Just like old times, eh, boys?!) to log in the largest kettle of the day, calculated to be 108,600, while counters and other observers logged in other flights and species. This kettle came in during the 5-6pm hour, and Joel says the swath it cut across the sky wasn't quite horizon-to-horizon, but pretty doggoned wide! These guys were moving a lot faster, though, and crossed over in about 15 minutes. By day's end, along with the regular counts, observers also logged in around 11 dark-morph broadies, bringing the season's total so far to 12 DM's.

All right, folks, you'll pardon me for leaving you in the lurch. Bill and I are now frantically trying to figure out just how the heck we're gonna get off work early tomorrow and out to the hill, hopefully in time for liftoff! (yep, believe it or not, we both missed this entire day's flight thanks to work .... <<aauuuggghhhhh!!!>> ... I at least caught the tail end via radar when Susan Fogelman from LRT helpfully informed me late this afternoon that we must be having one HELL of a day from what she was looking at on her radar screens! Auuuggghhh! I had no idea! (Thanks, Susan! The first ten pounds of chocolate are on me for our next meet!). Come all, come early, stay late, pray winds remain out of the north the rest of the week, and get ready to see some hawks!! Liftoff tomorrow should be pretty decent!

September 26, 2001: ***

Mark this day on your calendars!

Holy smokes ..... NEVER would I have guessed what today would bring! None of us even had a clue. Yesterday's near-300,000 count blew us away; we were still exclaiming over it this morning as we prepared for today's count. And we knew we'd get a decent liftoff out of it this morning (yes, a number of us played hooky from real-life to be on the hill this morning, to our good fortune). Liftoff was around 20,000 strong, and while most were out to the far west, we had enough broadies and other assorted raptors in and around the park to keep visitors and counters alike busy and happy for the first hour and a half.

And the hawks kept coming .... and coming .... and coming ...... is this starting to sound familiar? Holy smokes ....

By noon, when we finally DID get a breather, we were already up to 115,172 broadwings, plus an odd assortment of other species. From 12 to 2, we got a respite; only having to count in 3,771 more hawks. At 200 pm, or shortly thereafter ... somebody apparently left the mews door open. We were absolutely buried in broadies!

If you haven't guessed by now, yes, today, we broke yesterday's record! Today, we broke all prior single-day records at Hazel Bazemore! And today, we broke another record by having two consecutive days with more than 200,000 hawks counted on each day! There are probably some other statistics and records that we blew out of the water as well, but as my brain is totally fried at the moment, with my eyeballs not too far behind, I won't even worry about trying to cite them.

As one counter put it, we must've eaten TOO MUCH chocolate today! (Is that possible? Boy, we're beginning to think so, and we had the good stuff out on the hill today, too!) The chocolate mojo must've been on overdrive, because the hawks just kept coming ... and coming ... and .... I don't think I can even look a chocolate bar in the face right now ... (who said that?!) ... now, tomorrow is a different story ...

We also heard things today we never thought we'd ever hear on a watch site ... like a huge collective groaning laughter of "Noooo!" from everyone on the hill (especially from all of us counters!) when the word "KETTLE!" was shouted yet again in the 5-6pm hour! By that time, we'd kissed the edge of the 400,000 mark, and our arms were leaden, our eyes fried and ready to be served on a platter, our brains scrambled; we won't even talk about our necks being so stiff we couldn't even hold our heads straight any longer from the marathon counting sessions all day on scopes and binoculars in awkward positions.

Along with the pain comes gain, though. We also saw quite an entertaining sight as a sharp-shinned hawk suddenly blasted out of the underbrush across the watch site and slammed into a tree right in the middle of the hawk watch, scattering doves and other assorted passerines like shrapnel! Just as quickly as the sharpie drove through the tree, it came out the other side and went on, leaving a wake of panicked but safe birds trying to gather their collective wits and feathers. You know, dove wings are really loud when those guys get panicked! Surprisingly, there were no kills. Sometimes, I guess sharpies figure it's just fun to mess with their heads, rather than collect groceries for the night!

A wonderful turnout today in the gallery, right in the middle of the week, no less, as around fifty folks made it to the hill to help out and watch the fun unfold!

Okay, if you haven't already scrolled down by now (and even if you have!) ... here's the day's tally, before I totally lose the ability to type (stiff fingers from all the clicking!)

Black vultures 9; turkey vultures 7; ospreys 4; Miss kites 2; harriers 8; sharpies 60; Coop's 39; broadies (hope you're sitting down!) 443,230 (!!!!!); Swainson's 18; red-tailed 3; white-tailed 1; kestrels 22; merlins 2; accipiters 24; buteos 2; falcons 2; and raptors 5. Total 443,438. Holy smokes!!

A picture's always worth a thousand words, right? Lucky you, tonight ... you get both words and pictures! At least, if you check out this report on our web site, you do. <grin!> ...

Didn't appear to be anything setting down tonight around us; we're not expecting much of a liftoff, if any, tomorrow. As for hawks for tomorrow ... shoot, no one's going to even try to make a guess! We'll just have to gather and offer up the appropriate amounts of chocolate, and see what happens!

Tomorrow also marks the beginning of the 4-day Celebration of Flight, with educational talks on a number of hawk watch-related topics from Hawk Watch International personnel, as well as live raptors on site and a blessing ceremony from our local Native American Association, in honor of the guests of honor ... the hawks. More information on exact dates and times of the various presentations and demonstrations can be found elsewhere on this web site (link from the main Hazel Bazemore page) and remember ... it's all free, and open to the public!

September 27, 2001:

Whew. We really needed a bit of a breather, after Monday and Tuesday's marathon counting shifts. True to form, the MINUTE Bill and I left the hill a little bit early this afternoon to go pick up some video gear, the broadies started coming in. Well, yeah, we DID consume mass quantities of chocolate all day, too; but I'm sure that was a coincidence. <grin> Not! Happily, for the sake of the counters, it was a light load day (light for Hazel Bazemore, at least). Gotta rest those eyes up. We hear a second wave may be imminent, coming in from the Eastern flyway. If so, they should start showing up tomorrow or Saturday.

Today's tally turkey vulture 1; osprey 3; harriers 7; sharpies 33; Cooper's 25; red-shouldered 1; broadies 5,416; Swainson's 5; red-tailed 4; kestrels 3; peregrines 3; accipiters 9; buteos 2; raptors 3. Total 5,515

And ... a correction to yesterday's totals. The final numbers for 9/26 were balanced and audited, and that day's total tally came out slightly above the reported numbers. I won't go into detail; there were adjustments to several species counts, but the species breakouts below do reflect those changes. Suffice it to say the final number showed about 3,000 more broadies than originally reported. As we know, balancing those count logs can be just as tedious as staring into a blue sky and counting pepper-speck hawks in scopes. Kudos to the entire crew for their efforts thus far! May our eyes and wits hold out at least through this week! <grin!>

By the way, I'm putting out an all-call tonight ... anyone who managed to capture any radar images of south Texas during the Monday-Tuesday Gargantuan Flights, please, contact me privately; we'd love to get copies of your images!

Today rang in day one of the 4-day "Celebration of Flight." HBHW Education Director Roland Zoer and Paul Grindrod from Hawk Watch International gave several presentations and mounted exhibits on various aspects of hawk watching and raptor identification. Presentations continue tomorrow through Sunday. Additional features include live hawk educational demonstrations by Last Chance, Forever on Saturday and a blessing ceremony by the Corpus Christi Native American Association on Sunday, in honor of the guests of honor ... the hawks. More information can be found elsewhere on the Texas Hawk Watches web site (link from the main Hazel Bazemore page) and remember ... it's all free, and open to the public. Bring the kids!

September 28, 2001:

Decent day. We're sitting on the edge of our seats, literally, waiting for the other shoe to drop, and from the looks of radar this afternoon, the shoe's halfway off the foot already. We appear to be right on schedule for one more possible major push of broadies through south Texas. With luck and friendly breezes, many of those will reach us at Hazel Bazemore. Late afternoon checks of radar showed strings of hawks making their way southward along the coast and slightly inland, from Houston. Hawks were also noted to the west of our watch site via radar today, as we battled absolutely cloudless skies layered by haze that made sighting hawks very difficult if they weren't already on top of us. Winds remained N/NE, and while forecasters called for practically no wind (today was actually an EPA ozone action day), the winds actually did come up a little breezier than anticipated. Kept the no-see-ums at bay until the winds died in the late afternoon (then we got eaten alive). We're anticipating a VERY interesting day tomorrow!

Okay, here are the numbers: black vulture 7; osprey 4; harrier 3; sharpie 21; Coo's 17; broadies 8,676; Swainson's 2; red-tailed 2; kestrel 10; merlin 1; peregrine 3; prairie falcon 2 (first of season); caracara 2; accipiters 25; buteos 1; falcons 2; raptors 8. Total: 8,786

Watch oddities: The HUGE bee swarm that buzzed through the middle of the site this afternoon. Hundreds of thousands of bees looking for a new home. The Cooper's that took high exception to a black vulture in its airspace, and proceeded to stoop the poor vulture, smacking it square on the back & shoulders on the way down. Another accipiter that, for the second day this week, blasted without warning into the same tree in the middle of the watch site, scaring every bird in it and two other nearby trees into the middle of next week, again. It's a wonder those doves and other dickie birds don't drop over from heart attacks. Several counters were startled as well; especially those standing right next to those trees at the time who found themselves with faces full of stampeding doves. Again, no kill ... just messing around ... who says accipiters don't have a sense of humor? Well, okay, they don't, but they sure understand the principal of intimidation to the maximum levels! (I swear I saw a grin on that accip's beak as it sailed merrily onward through the watch site!)

Chocolate was consumed heartily by all observers and watch guests today, and of course, it brought hawks in shortly afterward. Snickers (traditional) and Hershey's golden nuggets with almonds and toffee seem to the be most popular and effective. To our surprise, candy corn worked well today, too.

I'm repeating my all-call again tonight ... anyone who managed to capture any radar images of south Texas during the past week, especially during our peak passage days of Monday and Tuesday, please, contact me privately. We'd really like to get copies of your images for our archives! I've posted the radar capture from this afternoon on the web site, for anyone interested in seeing the advance waves for tomorrow. 

The "Celebration of Flight" continues Saturday with live hawk educational demonstrations by Last Chance, Forever. A blessing ceremony by the Corpus Christi Native American Association will be held Sunday morning. HBHW Education Director Roland Zoer and Education Coordinator Paul Grindrod from Hawk Watch International continue their presentations and exhibits on various aspects of hawk watching and raptor identification. More information can be found elsewhere on this web site (link from the main Hazel Bazemore page) and remember ... it's all free, and open to the public. Bring the kids!

September 29, 2001: 

The anticipated masses didn't materialize, but we weren't skunked by any means, either. Views from the hill in the morning were once again into blue, blue hazy skies ... by noon, the first clouds started forming (and almost immediately dissipating). But by late afternoon, high cirrus gave a welcome visual break to weary eyes.

Numbers: black vultures 7; turkey vultures 2; ospreys 1; Miss kite 1; harriers 3; sharpies 30; Cooper's 29; broadies 21477; Swainson's 4; red-taileds 2; kestrels 10; prairie falcons 2; caracara 1; accipiters 22; buteos 2; falcons 3; raptors 7. Total: 21,603.

I want to thank everyone very, very much who sent in radar screen captures of the peak passages this week!

Last Chance, Forever (raptor conservancy and education) brought live hawks to the watch site today in two demonstrations that left onlookers in awe. Visitors were also treated to presentations by Hawk Watch International educators on the who, what, where, and why's of hawk watching. The "Celebration of Flight" continues Sunday with live hawk educational demonstrations by Last Chance, Forever. A blessing ceremony by the Corpus Christi Native American Association will be held Sunday morning in honor of the guests of honor ... the hawks. HBHW Education Director Roland Zoer and Paul Grindrod from Hawk Watch International continue their presentations and exhibits on various aspects of hawk watching and raptor identification. More information can be found elsewhere on this web site (link from the main Hazel Bazemore page) and remember ... it's all free, and open to the public. Bring the kids!

September 30, 2001:

A decent day today! More cirrus clouds crept in, aiding the finding of broadies that insisted on migrating higher than we preferred. Another new species today for the season with the sighting in late afternoon of a zone-tailed hawk.

The final day of the Celebration of Flight kicked off with a blessing ceremony led by Two Bears with members of the Corpus Christi Native American Association (CCNAA). Kettles of hawks soared overhead before and during the ceremony; including a red-tailed hawk in one kettle (said kettle also included a kestrel, a Harris's hawk and a caracara; nice mix, that.).

A surprise highlight of today's events (and a complete surprise to the recipient) was the conduction of a naming ceremony after the blessing ceremony ended. Hawk watchers and CCNAA members alike were doubly thrilled to learn the new name bestowed by elders Two Bears and Grey Wolf on David Collins ... henceforth to be known as Two Hawks. There couldn't have been a more timely or appropriate outcome to this ceremony, given the time and place! Namings are carefully thought out ahead of time and are given based on the worthiness of each candidate. The serendipity of receiving a hawk name while on site at the hawk watch, with hawks flying overhead, made the event that much sweeter for all involved. Congratulations, Two Hawks!

Numbers: black vultures 5; turkey vultures 18; harriers 2; sharpies 34; Cooper's 39; broadies 31890; Swainson's 23; red-taileds 3; zone-tailed 1 (first of season); Harris's 1; kestrels 11; peregrines 5; prairie falcon 1; accipiters 42; buteos 1; falcons 2; raptors 14. Total: 32,096 (pending audit).

Thanks once again to Paul Grindrod of Hawk Watch International for his presence and presentations on all matters hawk watching.