Hazel Bazemore Hawk Watch

Corpus Christi, Texas (Nueces County)

All reports are posted daily to the following newsgroups: 
BirdHawk, TexBirds, BirdChat, TexasBirdChat
   

So, just how do we count all those hawks!?
 

We've been in watch for five days now, and I swear, every day my jaw drops a little more! You're not going to believe what the majority hawk is so far ... wowsa! ... nope, it's not the Mississippi Kite, as you might think. Much, much more interesting. You remember last fall's reports? Then you know which bird I'm talking about! <grin!> Check it out:

August 15, 2002:

Joel Simon files the first day's report: "We began the sixth full-season fall watch today at Hazel Bazemore Park. Resident raptors included the pair of white-tailed hawks with one juvenile, one osprey, one red-tailed hawk, 15 black vultures and a low 6 turkey vultures. Only three migrating raptors were observed, one red-tailed hawk and two Swainson's hawks. With good winds and clouds, it was actually a pleasant day considering it hit 98. The other species of birds included groups of 46 and 15 wood storks, 50-60 upland sandpipers flying over and calling early in the day, and two groups of black terns totaling about 20. Resident birds in the park included green jay, groove-billed ani, Couch's kingbird, olive sparrow and a special treat, a vermilion flycatcher."

Count for 8/15: 1 Swainson's hawk and 1 Red-tailed hawk

Day total: 2

August 16, 2002:

Today's report is easy; Joel reports only one migrating hawk on the books for the day, but two migrating hawk counters made their way to Texas and landed successfully at the watch. Welcome to the hill, to Paul Sweet and Kirsten McDonnell!

Since there were few hawks to speak of today, of course you know there have to be stories! Joel and Glenn are probably going to get me for this, but today's incident was just too funny to keep to myself! Okay, ya'll know Joel, our watch coordinator for the sixth year, and Glenn Swartz, our resident old-timer (in experience only, Glenn, experience only!!), one of the folks who's been counting hawks on the hill the longest, and who trained all us current old-timers (I'll let that one go). Anyway, we're constantly teasing each other when good birds are sighted, because usually, when the good birds come through, few of us are around to see them (and this fall's watch is apparently going to be no different, as you'll see shortly). Sometimes we're just not on the hill at the time, and sometimes, nature dictates we take our leave of the hill for a short while in what we've come to call breaks "to go count sparrows" (our hill shorthand for going to the restrooms!). Let me let Joel take up today's story from here: 

"The past couple of seasons Glenn always seemed to miss the good sightings, leaving for lunch and just missing something. I would tease him by saying he should leave just so we could get some activity. Well, Glenn got the ultimate payback on me today. The whole day we worked hard to find anything. I took one short break to count house sparrows (bathroom break) and they have a Swallow-tailed Kite! On hearing the report I thought Glenn was just pulling my leg, but seeing the sparkle in Kirsten's eyes, a lifer for her, I knew it was true. It spite of having only one migrating raptor, it was at least a very special one. Unusually pleasant with lots of clouds and cool sea breezes."

Count for 8/16: 1 Swallow-tailed kite (!)

Day total: 1

August 17, 2002:

Now, here's the report for the proof that history does repeat! Joel gets the floor for this one ... wowsa! 

"We had our first "kettle" of the season this morning at Hazel .....but hold onto your hats, it was a bino full of Swallow-tailed Kites!!! Eleven in all, it is the largest single group we have ever had at our site. Jimmy Swartz, a local birder who has lived nearby for over 30 years, had never seen so many in a single group. Our two HWI observers, Kirsten from Michigan and Paul from Chicago, must think that this species is quite common, after all it is the most numerous raptor on our count this season."

Joel continues his report:  "Another single Swallow-tailed Kite came by in the early afternoon. Other migrating raptors for the day was a very early Broad-winged Hawk, one Red-shouldered Hawk, and a White-tailed Hawk (not one of our residents)."

Hey, Joel, you guys keep that up, and I'm gonna have to use up my vacation early and come to the hill! <grin!> 

Count for 8/17: 11 Swallow-tailed kites (!!), 1 Broadwinged hawk, 1 red-shouldered hawk, 1 white-tailed hawk
Updated 8/20: 12 total swallow-tailed kites (oops!)

Day total: 15

August 18, 2002:

Swallow-tailed kites were again the order of the day, reports Joel. Five today; one pair, and two individuals in the morning, and one more solo in the early afternoon. Also had three Swainson's hawks.

Count for 8/18: 5 Swallow-tailed kites; 1 Swainson's hawk

Update 8/20: 3 Swainson's hawks total, not 1. 

Day total: 8

August 19, 2002:

Paul and Kirsten handled the watch today. Joel thinks they're beginning to get used to the heat. (Just wait'll the end of the month ... momma!) As Joel says, it hasn't really gotten hot here yet. Hasn't even broken 100 yet on the hill, but the season's still young! Counters report 2 Swainson's hawks and one far away unidentified raptor ... slim pickings for the morning. The first two Mississippi kites came over in the afternoon to brighten the day, and put another tick mark on Kirsten's life list!

Count for 8/19: 2 Miss. kites; 2 Swainson's hawks; 1 unid raptor

Day total: 5

August 20, 2002: 

Anyone catch the math error? Yikes! I did, but haven't had time to get back to the computer to correct it until now. For 8/17, make the swallow-tailed kite count 12 total, not 11. And somehow, I lost two Swainson's on 8/18 ... should be three in all, not one. Numbers have been updated below in the overall totals. As far as today's watch, Joel and Paul report a slow day, though enjoyable for the visitors (tongue-in-cheek here; Bill and I finally made it out to check in with the watch for a couple hours today). Here's their report:

"Temperatures remain mild for this time of year and the sea breezes make it almost pleasant. At 12:25 PM we had a pair of Swallow-tailed Kites go by to the west. The only other migrating raptors were two individual Swainson's Hawks."

"A Groove-billed Ani really put on a show as it hopped around on the 17th tee of the golf course just behind our site. Closer examination showed it chasing and finally catching a big, fat grasshopper. An Olive-sided Flycatcher also made its first appearance of the season." 

Count for 8/20: 2 swallow-tailed kites; 2 Swainson's hawks. 

Day total: 4

August 21, 2002:

Okay, now we're talking ... it was Mississippi kite day at Hazel Bazemore. Joel fills us in on the day's take: 

"The season is already one week old and today was the first day with decent numbers (although 20 Swallow-tailed Kites isn't too bad), All the activity was in the first three hours with 78 Mississippi Kites and 8 Swainson's Hawks. We also had our first White Pelicans of the season (11)." 

Wondermous! You guys know to watch sharp for those groups of pelicans, anhingas, vultures and wood storks, right? Often times, hawks will follow right behind or fly with them. We call those birds indicator birds, because they indicate to whatever is flying in their vicinity just where the thermals can be found. 

Count for 8/21: 78 Miss. kites; 8 Swainson's hawks. 

Day total: 86

August 22, 2002:

Joel files today's report:

"An exciting and eventful day! Finally, we got some numbers ... not just a bunch of Swallow-tailed Kites. Between 11 and noon the Mississippi Kites began with 594 for the hour, along with four Swallow-tails, followed by 227 Mississippi's the next hour. Another 4 Swallow-tails were seen between 1 and 2 PM. Besides the first really busy day on the watch in terms of numbers it was also unusual because of the rarity that showed up in Port Aransas. Vicki went in the morning to see the Curlew Sandpiper and Paul and I went just after the watch and were looking at the bird at about 6 PM. A lifer for Paul and the 500th Texas bird for me."

Don't you just love the way Joel says "not just a bunch of swallow-tailed kites"? <big grin!> Ya gotta love this watch; you really do never know what's going to soar overhead at any given time! Okay, folks, it's almost the weekend. Break out the chocolate, water and sunscreen (oh yeah, and binos) and plan to head for your nearest watch. Texas has a few going; here at Hazel; Smith Point on the upper coast (the real swallow-tailed kite flight zone), and Hornsby Bend near Austin. No excuses! Let's go find those birds! 

Count for 8/22: Swallow-tailed Kites 9; Mississippi Kites 899; 
Red-tailed Hawk 2. 

Day total: 910

August 23, 2002:

Paul's got the report for today:

Count for 8/23: 2 Swallow-tails, 47 Mississippi Kites, 2 Red-shouldered, 2 Swainson's, 1 Unid. Buteo

Day total: 54 

"Also, a nice look at a Scissor-tailed Flycatcher (I know, but remember neither me nor Kirsten are Texans), bunches of Blue-gray Gnatcatchers, and about 600 Anhingas, including the biggest flock of anything I've seen this fall, about 330 birds."

Yup, Paul, that's just a warm-up. Wait'll late September ... <grin!>. It's such a joy, experiencing those incredible flights with folks who've never seen them in those numbers before. You know what? It's almost a new experience for those of us who see it every year, too. It never fails to completely awe me, every time a huge group comes over, no matter how many times (or numbers) I've already seen. I think that's one of the things I love so much about fall. Spring is traditionally thought to be the time of rebirth. I see Fall as that time as well, showing the results of an entire season of breeding, as the populations move southward towards wintering grounds. That's one journey I never tire of experiencing.

August 24, 2002:

Bill and I finally got to see some swallow-tailed kites today. The watch racked up another impressive kite day with a total of ten, including a group of five at one time. This brings the season-to-date total to 41, which is a new watch record! 

Poor Glenn Swartz ... the hawk watch gremlins are teasing him again. He sat out there in the oppressive heat with us much of the day, spotting up migrants ... but every time he'd leave the hill, guess what would wander by overhead? Yup, you got it, swallow-tailed kites! If anyone should have enjoyed those kites today, it was Glenn, as he even left the hill for an hour or so to go make us all some homemade pineapple sherbet. Came back to the hill laden with the wondrous cool stuff, started to pass it out, and of course, asked "what did I miss?" ... umm, not much, Glenn ... (we'd already discussed breaking the news gently to him later ... at least after we'd gotten our hands on portions of sherbet, <grin!>). With no answer forthcoming, he immediately knew something was up, so he asked directly, "okay, how many swallow-tails did I miss?" ... still, no one answered. I grabbed my cup of sherbet and muttered under my breath "um, three?" ... he shot us a look (he knew!). Being the good sport he is, Glenn just laughed and said "oh, okay, they're just swallow-tailed kites, no big deal". That got us all to laughing! Poor Glenn; no good deed goes unpunished. He packed up the leftover sherbet (can you believe we actually had leftovers, even after seconds?) to take back to the house for his dad, who'd left the hill for a break ... and what goes by in his absence? Yup, more swallow-tails. <grin!>

That sherbet was outstanding, and really cooled us off. Tracy and Margie from Houston were taken aback at seeing the sherbet appear ("Wow! We didn't expect THIS!") ... that's one of the wonderful aspects of this watch; you never know what or who will appear. We're always full of surprises, <grin!>. Did I mention Glenn is our official hawk watch chef? (You think his sherbet is good; his homemade special recipe chocolate chip cookies are the best you'll ever taste. Heaven!) (Note to self: go buy an industrial strength sized bag of those special chocolate chips for him) 

It was HOT out there today (always is, this time of year, and we're not even into the really hot season yet). Hardly a breeze to help until the mid afternoon's offshore showers gathered 'round the area, heading south. No rain fell on us, but one nice cumulonimbus finally threw some cooler air our way, kicking up a good breeze in its wake as it passed to the east of us. Unfortunately, it also blew away most of the spotty cumie clouds of the morning and early afternoon that were so helpful to us and the migrating hawks. Good anhinga day today; over a thousand, and seven wood storks as well. Paul and Kirsten say the best dicky birds of the day were four marbled godwits that over flew the watch site in the morning. The usual resident suspects were around in the surrounding brush (green jays, kiskadees, groove-billed anis, hummers). 

Count for 8/24: Swallow-tailed: 10 (for a new season high!); Mississippi: 663; Red-shoulder: 6; Swainson's: 10; Red-tail: 3

Day total: 692

August 25, 2002:

Did I mention it's been hot on the hill? Well ... I amend my earlier statement from yesterday ... it's graduated to dang hot out there now! Kirsten's weather reading hit 100-degrees F today around 2pm. Heat index ran somewhere around 105. Little to no wind, of course. So hot, even the swallow-tailed kites (and most of the other birds) weren't flying. Even the vultures looked wilted. Or was that just my eyes melting? You get the idea. Good thing our counters are used to extremes in temps. And that we had the chocolate in ice chests. <grin!>

Count for 8/25: 129 Miss. kites; 4 Swainson's; 1 red-tailed; 1 unknown raptor.

Day total: 135

August 26, 2002:

I'm beginning to think I'd better quit mentioning the heat. Not from any mail I've received. On the contrary. It seems every time I mention how hot it was, it just gets hotter the next day! Today was another scorcher. Heat index hit 110-F today ... ouch. That's getting pretty hot. I don't think I want to know what September's heat will be like; just hide the weather gauges! The heat didn't slow the hawks down today, though, as evidenced by Paul's report:

"Dickey bird report: 10 or so Dickcissels; several Yellow Warblers; ~800 Anhingas, including a smoke trail of over 500 (Editor's note: awesome!); lots of Blue-gray Gnatcatchers; and one that I almost didn't bother to point out to Vicki: 1 Blue Jay!"

"Question of the day: 'Vicki, how often do you see Blue Jays around here?'"

"Oh, and Butterflies included Queen, Great Swallowtail, and Little Yellow (probably others, but I did have all those kites to count)"

Editor's aside: <chuckle!> thanks, Paul! You did good! More than good; I just got another note tonight asking about anhinga-pelican-stork counts. We do so love those indicator birds! 

Editor's answer of the day re the blue Jay:  not very darned often! I can't remember but maybe one other report of a blue jay at the watch in the past seven years. Glenn, Joel, Vicki? What do your records show? That's a good dickey bird! 

Speaking of records; got another email asking how we were doing overall on the counts. Actually, we're pretty much on track with average flights for this time of the year. Last year we had a huge influx that had us well over 7,000 by the end of August, but records for 1997, 1998, 1999, and 2000 show we're pretty close to level for this time (I checked through August 31, and since we still have a few days left in the count, the numbers could literally go anywhere, depending on the next five days' worth of flights). 

Smith Point's cooking merrily along. Saw on their BirdHawk reports that they racked up a neat 100 swallow-tailed kites for their first week of watch. Wowsa! 

Count for 8/26: Swallow-tailed Kite only 1; Mississippi Kite only 642; Red-shoulders 5, including several inside the kite kettles; Swainson's 3; Red-tails 2; Un. Buteo 1; and the raptor of the day: 1 adult Peregrine

Day's total: 655

August 27, 2002:

Well, our numbers are not going anywhere very fast after today! Poor counters really earned their pay, fielding blue skies and haze to find only nine hawks overhead all day long. Ouch. Momma said there'd be days like these. One of our fellows out west notes thousands of kites are migrating through much farther west of us, which is about the normal pattern for the kite migration through central Texas. He notes the Swainson's are moving through in numbers farther west as well; also right on track. Major shifts in weather could affect the paths of the migrants, but none are expected over the next few days. Any break from this heat and the blue hazy skies would sure be welcome, though. Ice packs on the eyes only go so far. Heat index today was again 110-degrees. On the up side, Paul notes the first kestrel flew by and got onto the log today, as did the first osprey. And yes ... one more swallow-tailed kite! (I'm having more fun watching those numbers rack up this fall than watching the regular kite numbers!)

Count for 8/27: osprey 1; swallow-tailed kite 1; Miss. kite 4; Swainson's hawk 1; Am. kestrel 1; unk buteo 1. 

Day total: 9

August 28, 2002:

Okay, that's better! Sore eyes finally got a break. Joel brings us the details for today:

"Good clouds today after three days of mostly blue skies. The first small kettle today had 4 broadies, 1 Mississippi, 1 Swainson's, and 1 Red-shouldered, a fun mixture. There were several groups of Anhinga (850 total), 54 Wood Storks (including 7 that flew by very low overhead), and the surprise of the day, 11 Greater White-fronted Geese." 

Count for 8/28: 60 Mississippi Kites, 1 Red-shouldered Hawk, 4 Broad-winged Hawks, and 5 Swainson's Hawks.

Day total: 70

August 29, 2002:

There are days that make suffering through the heat and the haze worthwhile. Paul reports no big numbers today, but lots of clouds, and the ever-present high haze blanketing the skies made spotting interesting. A nice variety of raptors and visitors kept interest sparked on the hill. William S. Clark (co-author with Brian K. Wheeler of the raptor field ID guide, and the bible at our watch, "A Field Guide To Hawks Of North America) spent the day at the watch with Paul and Joel. Nine different species of raptors passed by in review before day's end. A pretty good show overall, notes Paul. Bill has relocated from his east coast digs to the sunny and much more centrally located Texas valley, in Harlingen. It's good to have you in the neighborhood, Bill. 

Count for 8/29: 
Turkey Vulture: 1 (migrating - Joel picked him up)
Osprey: 2 (plus 2 that flew over low, going south, then came back over even lower heading north)
Mississippi Kite: 372 (mostly between 3:45 and 4:30)
Cooper's Hawk: 1
Red-shouldered: 1
Broad-wing: 19 (finally)
Swainson's: 6
Red-tail: 1
Harris': 1
Unid. Buteo: 1

Day count: 405

Dickey Birds: Very little, only about 150 Anhingas, mostly in very small groups. Lots of hummers at the feeder, but everything we saw was a Ruby-throat. A few gnatcatchers, one Yellow Warbler, and one gray warbler of some sort -- Paul says he only managed a brief look at the back.

August 30, 2002:

Oh yeah! It's starting to cook now! And I don't mean just the eyeballs of the counters from the heat on the hill (though it is still pretty warm). The first north winds blew in, and Kirsten not only called in the first day of over a thousand hawks for the count, she also got another lifer on her personal list. Of course, she was too modest to mention that when she sent in today's report, <grin!> ... congrats on adding a Harris's to your life list, Kirsten! I'll let Paul take up the tale for the day:

"Definitely a good day at the site today. First of all, we had a wonderful look at an adult Harris' Hawk -- low and close, you could even see the yellow cere. That's basically a lifer for Kirsten (we had had a distant juvenile earlier). Second, we had an incredible look at one of the local Caracaras -- just beyond and above tree 4, flying off to the west. The red face was clearly visible, and you could see barring on the chest. Unfortunately, Kirsten had just gotten onto a stream of Mississippis, and couldn't come off them. So, of course, several unnamed individuals had to talk up how lovely the bird was. Turns out there were only 6 birds in the stream, but we needed every one for 1000. And Kirsten did get a nice look at the Caracara as it flew over the golf course behind us."

Awesome! Those close looks are what we all live for. Glad those two accommodated the watch today; those are really good ones to see close up. I had to chuckle, hearing that Kirsten got hung up counting and missed the original pass of the caracara ... man, how many times has that happened to us all? Dare I mention the rough-legged hawk of 1997? No? Too late! We still talk about that bird to this day, <laugh!>! I could have reached out and tagged hawk watch veteran John Economidy, I was that close to him (along with every other counter on the hill) when he shouted it out, but every one of us other counters were already on kettles, working in every direction but the one small part of the sky directly overhead that the rough-legged occupied for those long, seemingly eternal seconds. Long only because we couldn't look away to find it, even though it was the first ever recorded sighting of a rough-legged at the watch. Thank goodness John was able to stay on it. All the rest of us counters could do is listen to the recitation and groan and cuss, <laugh!> ... and just keep counting our broadies. Yeah, it was worth it, though; as that rough-legged came in near a kettle of about 1,500 broadies on a day when the watch logged in 169,800+ hawks. And, we made John write the white paper on the rough-legged (no good deed goes unpunished, after all! <grin!>).

Okay, enough reminiscing! Here are today's numbers!

Count for 8/30:
988 mississippi kites
1 swallow-tailed kite
10 broad-winged hawks
3 swainson's hawks
1 harris' hawk (it gave us such a great look!)
1 american kestrel

Day total: 1004

Update 8/31: also one nice kettle of anhingas, 560 strong; thanks for catching it, Kirsten and Paul!

August 31, 2002:

This was definitely one of "those" days. Kirsten and Paul manned the hill today, ready to catch any migrating raptor that dared come by and log it in, but the raptors and Mother Nature apparently had other ideas. Kirsten's got the details: 

"Today was not quite what we expected. Low bird numbers, 33 total compared to our 1004 of yesterday, and not many visitors. Where was everyone on this Labor Day weekend? As for the raptors, maybe they were stalled north of us with passing poor weather (Jimmy Swartz says we had 3 inches of rain at the hawk watch - 3 inches between each rain drop!) or maybe they were pushed west of us with our strong wind from the ne today. Who knows?" 

Count for 8/31: 23 Mississippi Kites; 4 Broad-winged Hawks; 4 Swainson's Hawks; 1 American Kestrel; 1 unidentified buteo

Day count: 33

Kirsten also adds:  "So we expect to see everyone out to enjoy the watch with us for the rest of this extended weekend, and bring the birds with you!" 

I have to admit, today Bill and I were among those absent from the hill for most of the day (we did get in an hour at the last). But I promise; we were hawk watching! Actually, we'd been hearing about passages west of the watch site, through the middle of south Texas, basically, so we decided to strike out today and take point to see if any of those kettles were still flying. After all, Veracruz already logged in 12,000 kites, so we knew they had to go somewhere to get by us! Swainson's, too, were reported in good numbers within the past few weeks, with some already passing through Veracruz as well. Turns out, we didn't fare much better than the hill today, but we did find a few nice kettles of forty or so Swainson's hawks (adults and juvies) working some freshly plowed fields in Duval and Jim Wells counties (more or less in the center of south Texas when you take a ruler and draw a line between Corpus Christi on the Gulf coast, and Laredo on the Rio Grande River/US-Mexican border. Right where they should be. When they're not over Hazel, that is. <grin!> Surprisingly, though ... we saw no Mississippi kites. Not a one. Saw some red-tailed and some Harris's hawks (all locals). Saw some neat dicky birds (lark sparrows, scissor-tailed flycatchers, green jays, Eastern kingbirds; roadrunners; shorebirds in flocks in the freshly plowed fields that we didn't even try to keep up with; sorry, folks). Saw some rain as the afternoon drew on. To the point we even got deluged on during the last hour of making our way back to the hill. Apparently barely a drop fell at the watch site, compared to the car-wash style deluge we drove through that suddenly ended with a sharp line of demarcation within two miles of the hawk watch site (along with the other hit and miss cells in between our westernmost point of travel today and the watch site. We figure weather north of us held the hawks at bay. So, tomorrow could be quite interesting! See you all on the hill tomorrow?
    

Click here to go to September's reports