Hazel Bazemore Hawk Watch

Corpus Christi, Texas (Nueces County)

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

Heighdy ho! (How DO you spell that, anyhow?) ... it's a new month and a fresh look in the skies! Just knowing it's October brings a neat little thrill of fall to my senses. I can almost smell the apple cider and the caramel apples and the scent of dried leaves falling from trees getting undressed for winter. That's got to be one of my favorite smells on earth, those wonderfully crinkly, crunchy, aromatic dried hard wood leaves. You know how we associate wonderful (hopefully) memories of childhood with certain smells? Slip a Crayola under anyone's nose and the first thing they'll do is smile, before even trying to guess what it is. That's one of those scents we just immediately know and love. Same with those sweet, sweet smelling fall leaves that we'd rake up in piles bigger than us, then slam into them at a full run, scattering them to the four corners of the yards. Then raking them back up and doing it all again until it got too dark to see. In case you hadn't already guessed (as if), my childhood wasn't spent in south Texas. (Well, the first childhood, anyway!) I was raised under trees much bigger than mesquites in the south and eastern seaboard. <grin!> 

Counters had cloud cover to help spot hawks again today, which was a blessing. Had rain today, a little (not so much a blessing; we're chock full of rain for the month already). Paul signs in tonight with the day's report: 

"We had good clouds and even some rain this morning (thanks to Lili, I guess). The first two hours (almost three) were birdless, but then just before noon, the clouds yielded up 2400 Broadies within about 20 minutes. It was interesting seeing Vicki counting with the rain falling around her. About 300 more trickled through the next hour, then it died until a kettle of 42 at 4:00. We did have some migrating Vultures during the day, and a group of 5 Black Vultures that came over looking perfect, then, still looking good, came back north 3 hours later."

Count for 10/01:
Black Vulture: 5 (not the 5 mentioned above)
Turkey Vulture: 10
Osprey: 4
Sharpie: 1
Cooper's: 1
Broadwing: 2706
Swainson's: 1
Kestrel: 1
Merlin: 1
Peregrine: 6
Unid. Acc. 2

Day total: 2738

Paul's Dickey-bird Report: "The Groove-billed Anis put on a show this morning, in the rain. There were also a couple of Lark Sparrows, and two White-tipped Doves came out to feed late. I don't believe I spotted an Anhinga, but we did have a few Wood Storks and about 400 Pelicans. After the count, Rik Britton and I walked around the bottom of the park -- it's a bit muddy in one or two spots, but definitely doable. We had a single good group of shorebirds with 8 Solitary Sandpipers and 1 Sanderling mixed in with lots of Killdeer and Least Sandpipers." 

Oh boy. I can already hear the groans from the folks who were really hunting up those anis this past weekend. Figures the park's family group would finally appear in the rain, after diligent binocular-hunting in the dry weather failed to yield their hiding places this past weekend. It's all just part and parcel of the Zen of birding!

October 2, 2002:

A light day today. Hurricane Lili is pounding her way towards Louisiana and migrants are shifting and sorting through new routes to compensate. Once squalls hit land, flights will shut down until the storms pass. Mark sends word that Swainson's hawks continue to queue up in Iowa (bless you, Mark!) and a private site in Louisiana saw 23,000+ broadies go by in an hour and a half on September 30th. Let's see ... will Jim's 23,000+ broadies beat Lili's squalls and winds? Let's hope they get far enough around to make a run for it towards us before landfall. <grin!> 

While we wait to see what the storm will do, local enthusiasts have been chasing around media. The local paper wrote a really nice article on our watch and put it on the front page of the newspaper last Friday. Today, the Wall Street Journal has another article on the watch, again smack on the front page! In tv-land, the local ABC and NBC/Fox affiliates gave us wonderful coverage. Murphy's Law for Hawkwatching Number 30: If you have near-record light flights, the media will turn out. When you break all watch records, the coverage is minimal! <grin!> Coverage was exceptional this year, and our appreciation and thanks to our friends in the media who made it happen for us!  

So ... enough stalling on my part ... Kirsten is filing tonight's report: "2 turkey vultures, 1 osprey, 1 mississippi kite (a immi) 2 northern harriers, 9 sharp-shinned hawks, 12 cooper's hawks, 851 broad-winged hawks, 3 swainson's hawks, 1 red-tailed hawk, 1 white-tailed hawk, 8 american kestrels, 12 peregrine falcons, 2 unidentified accipiters, 3 unidentified falcons, and 2 unidentified raptors."

Day total: 910 

October 3, 2002:

Okay now, let's see ... Bill Clark ... plus Hazel Bazemore ... plus migration ... equals ... hawks? Looks that way! The Clark Syndrome remains in effect, as several days of small flights gave way today to a push onward edging away from the latest tropical transient in the Gulf, Lili. Let's let Paul pick up the details for us:

"If those Iowa birds got you interested, today should have you jumping up and down. And only Kirsten, Jimmy, Rik, and I to see it (as well as a few visitors, thanks much to Peter from Tucson, and a welcome to Bill Clark, just back from Cape May). We had 48,450 hawks today! Not exactly 6 digits, but not bad for a couple of relative novices to these big days. And we must have missed accips and falcons through all the broadies. We had two hours of over 10,000, and one stream that Kirsten and I traded off for close to 45 minutes of continuous counting. And to think, we started an hour late (10 am) due to fog." 

Paul and Kirsten are finally getting a little taste here and there of what hawk watching at Hazel can be. We're so glad! Words are fun and a body could talk up this stuff for days, but it all boils down to the old adage ... seeing is believing. There's no comparison to really being underneath the flights, getting that 30-minutes-and-they're-still-coming crick to your neck, having someone come relieve you (hold up your arms, lean your body against theirs to brace so you won't lose your place on the count) but still keep on counting ... and counting ... definitely an experience worth all waits. 

Oh, Paul's teasing me about reports I'm forwarding to he and Kirsten about those Swainson's hawks staging up and moving southward this week in Iowa and Nebraska. Keep on teasing me, Paul, just keep on counting those hawks; we'll both be grinning from ear to ear! <grin!> ... see? 

Count for 10/3:
Black Vulture: 10
Turkey Vulture: 14
Osprey: 10
Northern Harrier: 3
Sharpie: 20
Cooper's: 11
Red-shoulder: 5
Broad-wing: 48,330
Swainson's: 7
Red-tail: 3
Kestrel: 25
Peregrine: 10
Unid. Buteo: 1
Unid. Raptor: 1

Day total: 48,450 

Paul's Dickey Bird Report: "Perhaps half of our kettles had a few Anhingas, totaling perhaps 75 birds, and there were Wood Storks in small groups for much of the day. Not too sure if there were any Pelicans." 

Ric Brittain's Supplemental Hawk Report: (Ric's one of our regulars the Corpus Christi watch ... quiet but with eyes as sharp as any eagle. He dropped me a separate note tonight: "Tonight (10/3/02) while I was driving home from a day at the watch site at Hazel Bazemore, I had a kettle of about 115 Swainson's Hawks on FM 666, between San Patricio and Wright's Pond. These birds were kettled very low (maybe 10-20 feet above treetop level) on the west side of the road and were streaming to the southeast at the same height. I'm guessing they were looking for a good bed and breakfast as low as they were. There may have been at least one dark one in there but as I was looking in the direction of the sun, it may have been a trick of lighting. This occurred at about 6:25 pm. I give you this information to do with as you please." Awesome, Ric. Thanks! We'll just pass it on here, to anyone who can use it!

And one final note ... I did see that Aplomado falcon on Mustang Island again today. He was sitting on a pole directly opposite the entry to the Mayan Princess condos, checking out the scenery and being quite vocal about it all to anyone who would listen. Not sure if he's a Matagorda Island or South Padre Island releasee ... but he's been on Mustang all year. I hear there may be more ... I've only ever seen one at a time in my daily commutes to and from work on the island, but I don't get off the beaten path in those commutes (very often), so don't take me as the last word on numbers, by any means. Aplomados are very cool little falcons that we're really glad to see taking a foothold back in coastal habitats. The Peregrine Fund is to be congratulated for their immense contributions to repopulating this species in the wake of the successful repopulation and subsequent recent delisting of the peregrine falcon. Speaking of, one of the five winter peregrines arrived on Mustang a few weeks ago. He's taken up his usual winter territory at Mustang Island State Park again this year, and he was out on display tonight as well. Watching the winter hawks arrive on Mustang Island is like seeing beloved family coming in for a long winter's stay!

October 4, 2002:

The good flights continue as one front stalls out north of us and a second, stronger front approaches with the intent of barreling right through us on Sunday. Kirsten says the largest stream today was 19,000 ... more to come, no doubt, as those fronts start pushing the hawks together more and more. A good weekend to be on the hill! 

Count for 10/4:  2 black vultures, 58 turkey vultures, 13 osprey, 7 mississippi kites, 1 northern harrier, 55 sharp-shinned hawks, 27 cooper's hawks, 3 red-shouldered hawks, 29026 broad-winged hawks, 1 red-tailed hawk, 40 american kestrels, 4 peregrine falcons, 8 unidentified accipiters, 1 unidentified buteo, 1 unidentified falcon, and 1 unidentified raptor. 

Day total: 29248

CORRECTION TO 10/4: I knew something was a little off! The numbers came out less on my spreadsheet than what the counters sent. Kirsten tonight confirms 12 Swainson's hawks got left off the list accidentally (probably trying to sneak by us when our backs were turned!). It's rare we get that many broadies through at once (29,000+ yesterday) without at least a few Swainsons' in tow as well. That 'splains it! So up your counts by 12 more for 10/4. We're back up to the final total from the hill of 29,260!

October 5, 2002: 

Okay, Libby, tonight I'm squirming in my chair, too! You'll all see why in a moment. Let me just preface all this first by saying this is exactly the kind of day that makes all those private reports from up north that the rest of you guys send me so exquisitely wonderful! You all know how I love to track major movements, to see how and when and if bigger flights north of us finally make it through the Corpus Christi watch site. After two days of five-digit flights on the hill, Paul reports today was a bust. Literally. A big total count of 41 and Paul says no hawk with a broad wing of any sort flew through the watch site. Matter of fact, Paul reports his Illinois watch site back home beat the Corpus watch today! (He and his friends compare notes each day ... what fun!)  

So what happened? Well, today a frontal system that didn't quite make it through south Texas sucked up storms in its backwash, and those storms did make it to the area, in a big way, shutting down flights for the most part all around us. The storms apparently didn't reach as far northward as San Antonio, though, because Libby Huffman, one of our staunchest volunteers who takes "drop of the hat" days off from her job (girl after my own heart!) to hit the hill during good flights, reports ... get this ... over 10,000 Swainson's over her hill country ranch today!! Not only that, 5,000 of those babies opted to graze dragonflies and roost in the trees overnight at her ranch, so she's liable to have one of the better liftoffs of the month right over her house tomorrow! Okay, let's get the details on paper ... this is too much fun! You guys in Iowa and Nebraska who have been keeping me posted about your Swainson flights over the past week... THANK YOU!! I think your birds have arrived! <big grin!> I only wish I could be at Libby's the next couple days! I just love a good house count! (Hey, Libs, wanna be our newest remote site next fall? <grin!>)

So what's in store for Sunday? Well, a second frontal system is hot on the heels of that first aborted front and is bearing down on us. The weather service has forecasted storms and rain big-time over our heads for Sunday. It's very possible the Swainson's will move on down from Libby's ranch (she's about 20-30 miles south of San Antonio). They may move south a little more, maybe as far as Odem, Beeville, east of Lake Corpus Christi; hard to tell right now. They may blast right on through the watch. If those storms come through as indicated ... we're either going to have a major flight somewhere in the morning when those Swainson's push ahead of the front as hard as they can, or else they'll tuck in, sit it out and wait until the skies clear, piling up even more hawks with them, then bust out overhead in the wake of the system. Of course, there's no guarantee whatsoever they'll even hit the watch, but hey, you know me ... the eternal optimist! Past patterns have shown a route from San Antonio south following Interstate 37 is not out of line at all; we've had good flights tracked that did appear over the watch following that route. So it bears watching. But let me also issue a heads-up for our south central Texas watchers who are north and south of us to also keep their eyes open for the flight. You won't miss it; they're traveling in the thousands together, as they did through Iowa and Nebraska earlier this past week.

The weather service seems convinced the storms won't hit us until the late afternoon/evening hours, so if a good tailwind develops in the wake of that front, we could see good flights on Sunday. As the hawks are still 100-120 miles out, with "normal" winds, they'd be overhead about the time the frontal storms kick in, so there's also the possibility of a tuck-in and wait situation. Awesome! Can't wait to see what happens! (I'm voting for a pre-frontal flight!)

Count for 10/5 for watch: 

Sharpie: 16
Cooper's: 1
Osprey: 1
Kestrel: 19
Merlin: 1
Peregrine: 3

Day Total: 41 

Paul's Dickey bird report: "No Anhingas, but there were several groups of 30 or so Wood Storks and several lines of Pelicans, totaling perhaps 300. Bob Creglow spotted 6 geese, and I scoped a group of ducks that included several American Wigeon. Also, one of the Anis came out just at the end of the day." 

From about 120 miles north of us ... Libby Huffman files the following awesome reports: (Libs, your reports were too good to truncate; I'm taking the liberty of passing them on verbatim, with all your excitement still packed into them! You certainly have me literally squirming on my seat tonight, anticipating Sunday!) Oh, check out the ferrugie in her kettle from 10/4 ... we haven't had our traditional ferrugie over the watch yet, so eyes up ... that baby may make it over as well! Here's Libby's reports, with my deepest appreciation:

Libby: "Yesterday evening went out and got Swainies of 150 from 510 to 600. At 615 watched a stream of 91 go down for the nite a couple fields over. One small kettle had a Ferrugie in it YES!!!!! and while I wasn't watching SWs I had 4 Kestrels. SO.......this morning had to start w/ a funeral for a friend of Brock's - I was sure I would miss lift off. Got home at 11 to 30 or so in the air and figured I had missed it. Well, I did miss liftoff but....evidently there were lots sleeping a little up river from us. Here's the poop from 11 to 1235 today SWAINSONS - 1258 yessireebob!!!!!!!!!!!!! HOOOOOOOOOOEEEEEEEEEEEEE! You know I was dancin'. The largest groups 740; 268 and 174. Also rans - Kestrels 6; Coop 3; UA 3; UB 2; UF 1 but who can really watch for those. I'm sure I missed all sorts of stuff cuz streams were both east and west of me. As I sit here and look out the window, I have done two sweeps one 61 and one 64 Swainsons that are feeding one field over from me. There are in the air and I can only assume its a dragonfly lunch. Feeding on the wing just like the Miss kites. Too cool. And one of those is a dark morph. These close ones are not included in the numbers that flew thru. I had to stop because 1) I have fried my right (east) side and 2) I planned for hawkwatch tomorrow so I have to do chores today (bummer). I will work quickly and try to get back out around 230 or 3 so that I can fry my left side and be even again. Will let ya'll know if anything wonderful comes to spend the nite!" 

(Editor's note: Libby did file a follow-up several hours later Saturday night, and wow! Check it out!)

Libby: "Hi - My previous post may have been a little premature. Let's see - when I left ya'll last we were at 1258 and then chores. I went back out a little after 3. From 330 to 445 there were 2745 more. From 5 until dark I got at least 5000 more. I even had Brock hawkwatching. He says "I've never seen anything like it" Finally he understands why we sit there all day. (By the by, I now have kettle pictures - took two rolls of film in the hour they kettled back and forth right overhead) The 5000 are within sight for liftoff. We drove around trying to find the roost - can only find about 1000 which are basically in our front yard (are you green yet) but the others are not close enuf to the road to see. I will probably not make it to the hill tomorrow. You know I can't very well leave if they're gonna spend the nite here and wait to tell me good morning. We'll see. Brock says he's going to buy me a counter cuz he thought the 5000 figure was not high enuf. Could have used it today. But I think the guesstimate is conservative." 

Totally awesome!! Thanks, Libby! <hugs!> Eyes up folks! I've been saying that even with the sorry flights of our usual peak passage this season, we're not nearly done with good flights over the watch just yet! I love it when a plan comes together! Now, let's just hope those guys visiting Libby cooperate so we can add all of them to the watch official count!

October 6, 2002:

Swainson's pushed through today, but not at the watch site. Not the hordes of Swainson's seen yesterday passing over the Huffman ranch, that is. Still and all, a decent day. The anticipated front also lagged and hasn't passed through yet, so all eyes are on Monday. Kirsten files the report for today:

"We were on the look out for the Swainson's, but today was not the day. Today was very slow, with one good flight of 6400 broad-wings between 1-2pm but not much else flying. The highlight of the day was about 1000 white pelicans flying in two different groups. just beautiful over the blue sky. We expect a good flight of accipiters and falcons after the cold front pushes through tomorrow, and are still waiting on those Swainsons!"

Count for 10/6: 4 black vultures, 2 turkey vultures, 7 osprey, 2 mississippi kites, 4 cooper's hawks, 6452 broad-winged hawks, 5 swainson's hawks, 13 american kestrels, 7 peregrine falcons, 3 unidentified accipiters, 1 unidentified buteo, 1 unidentified falcon, 1 unidentified raptor

Day total: 6502 

So, just where did those Swainson's fly today? Three guesses ... yep, Libby had a liftoff all right, and then another raft of flights over her ranch today. Our newest field correspondent files her report for today as well!

Libby: "Liftoff was pretty nice this morn at Swainson Heaven. A nice 3121 from 9:25 to 10:30. Funny, I always though liftoff would be in a trickle. This was a woosh! Lucky for me, after the woosh they played around some and left in small enuf streams to count. From 11 til 1:30 there were only 38 more - 25 or so of these spent a couple hours feeding. Did chores til 3 then from 3 to 5 there was nada. I started lots of time to hang it up and come post a bust after liftoff. Then............from 5:35 to 7: there were 3587 more. Whoooo doggies! Once again Brock was hawkwatching! These were in five groups. The last group of 323 came in flapping at tree top level from several fields away to get to the roosting spot. Sorry I cannot build up much for the post cuz I'm just worn out. Somebody figure out how to get me out of work tomorrow so I don't have to miss liftoff! Should be another good one." 

Hey, Libs, just do what I do, and call in for the day. I'm sure your boss will understand completely! <grin!> Once again, let's hope the Swainson's don't go too far west and miss the watch completely.

October 7, 2002:

I'm beginning to think those Swainson's have slipped on by us to the west. Radar seemed to indicate several fairly good-sized flights far to the west of the watch site yesterday and again today. The front is stalled north of us and is now expected to hit tomorrow. After it does, it'll back up on top of us. Typical frontal behavior for this area for this time of year, for those that actually make it all the way through the Coastal Bend. As to whether those huge Swainson's flights were/are on the front or the back side of the approaching system remains to be seen. 

Kirsten reports the watch closed for two hours today due to rain, but in between, logged in a few birds.

Count for 10/7: 8 broad-wings, 1 red-tail, 79 turkey vultures (we had a little lift off this morning!) 2 mississippi kites, 13 sharp-shinned hawks, 34 american kestrels, 7 peregrine falcons, 1 unknown falcon, 3 osprey, 2 northern harriers, and 1 unknown raptor. 

Day total: 151 migrants

Kirsten reports the highlight of the day again was a non-raptor flight - about 800 white pelicans.

October 8, 2002:

No doubt about it, all those Swainson's of the past week did their western thing, and swung west of the watch en route to Argentina. Libby reports a liftoff yesterday at her ranch south of San Antonio, and then the front hit, ending any further flights for her for the day. Paul likewise reports another slow day at the watch today, as the so-called front dilly-dallies about and tries to decide what it's gonna do: come south to us, or keep on scrolling about, stalling out overhead, dropping scattered showers and boomers along its length and in its wake. While we wait for mother nature to decide, let's read Paul's report for the day ... it wasn't a total bust:

"It was another sleepy day at the hawkwatch. We had 45 hawks of ten different species, and the real interest of the day was in dickey birds (more about that later). The day was quite comfortable with decent SE breezes and lots of clouds, and only about 5 drops of rain. Here are the totals:"

Count for 10/8:
Turkey Vulture: 1
Osprey: 7
Mississippi: 1
Sharpie: 9
Cooper's: 1
Broad-wing: 2
Swainson's: 4 (none of those big flocks today)
Red-tail: 1
Kestrel: 15
Peregrine: 4

Day total: 45

Paul's Dickey Bird report (where the REAL action was today!): "1 Anhinga, several wandering Wood Storks, and over 2000 White Pelicans in big strings and kettles through much of the day. We also had a flight of 25 Franklin's Gulls, at least 6 Indigo Buntings, and 2 Magnolia Warblers."

October 9, 2002:

Now, here's a day where I wouldn't have thought much would happen. Woke up to boomers and drenching deluges all around us at all four corners of the compass. Even so, the day brought surprises to the hill, as Paul Sweet points out in his report:

"Today turned out to be a much better day than yesterday, actually a fascinating day, except for two hours. We had a small liftoff of about 20 Broadies, then the early afternoon got exciting with about 800 birds in two hours, then slow again until almost 5. From then until we left at 6, we had almost 900. The total for the day was 1762, with 18 species of migrant and several resident White-tailed Hawks, for 19 sp. of raptor for the day. The highlight was a juvenile Zone-tailed Hawk which went by low on the east. And, contrary to public opinion, Joel can actually see Zone-tails -- he actually found this one. Waves of clouds and north winds kept the watch quite pleasant as well." 

Count for 10/9:
Black Vulture: 13
Turkey Vulture: 9
Osprey: 4
White-tailed Kite: 1 (heading east)
Mississippi Kite: 3
Northern Harrier: 1
Sharpie: 42
Cooper's: 12
Red-shoulder: 1
Broad-wing: 1614
Swainson's: 17
Red-tail: 1
Zone-tail: 1 juvenile
Harris': 1
Kestrel: 29
Merlin: 2
Peregrine: 7
Caracara: 3
Unid. Raptor: 1

Day total: 1762

Paul's Dickey Bird Report: "A few groups of Anhingas totaling perhaps 150, several groups of Pelicans that I didn't get a look at, and a group of over 200 Wood Storks that almost got counted as Broad-wings, until Joel spotted the legs in the scope. Migrants included Gray Catbird, Nashville Warbler, Black-and-white Warbler, Magnolia Warbler, Indigo Bunting, and Rose-breasted Grosbeak. A Long-billed Thrasher actually put in an appearance today, and the pond below the site is getting very good for wading birds and shorebirds, including Common Snipe and Stilt Sandpiper. After we quit for the day, Rik Brittain and I spotted two juvenile Wood Storks on the ground just beyond the pond."

October 10, 2002:

The weather cleared today and the hawks responded in kind by continuing their trek southward. Some even went over top the watch today. And Paul reports a good setdown in Woodriver, so expect a liftoff tomorrow. Here's Paul's report:

"I guess the hawks have decided that 5:00 just isn't late enough. We had 5082 hawks today, with over 2900 after 5, and another 1350 in the two hours prior to 5. The real highlights were Swainson's Hawks. Nothing like the stuff at Austin and San Antonio, but we had two small kettles of purely Swainson's, and one mixed kettle with 960 Broadies and 240 Swainson's. A Prairie Falcon that Joel spotted was also exciting, even if I didn't manage to catch up with it. We had blue skies to begin with, and then good clouds during most of the day, with north breezes and 85 degree temps."

Count for 10/10: 
Black Vulture: 7
Turkey Vulture: 20
Osprey: 1
Harrier: 1
Sharpie: 15
Cooper's: 7
Broad-wing: 4623
Swainson's: 382
Red-tail: 2
Kestrel: 15
Peregrine: 2
Prairie Falcon: 1
Caracara: 1
Unid. Acc. 1
Unid. Raptor: 4

Day total: 5082

Paul's Dickey Bird Report: "Several small kettles of Anhingas, perhaps 200 White Pelicans, and over 800 Wood Storks, including an early morning kettle of over 560! There were also a Magnolia Warbler and several Blue-gray Gnatcatchers."

October 11, 2002:

Kirsten reports a "blender watch" today; lots of mixed groups, which always raises the blood pressure and makes for fun counts! Here's her rundown: "We had many mixed kettles today which was awfully fun. Biggest kettle of Swainsons was 760! mixed with 245 broad-wings! the kettles had mainly broad-wings, turkey vultures, and Swainsons, but add accipiters, falcons, and a few other buteos and you have a great mix! 

Count for 10/11: 2802 broad-winged hawks, 2 red-tailed hawks, 910 swainson's hawks, 1 red-shouldered hawk, 3 unidentified buteos, 249 turkey vultures, 25 sharp-shinned hawks, 17 coopers hawks, 30 american kestrels, 7 peregrine falcons, 1 unidentified falcon, 2 northern harriers. 

Day total: 4049 migrants. 

Kirsten notes most of the flight occurred between 4-6 pm.

UPDATE ON THE INJURED OSPREY from Tony Amos, Director of The ARK (Animal Rehabilitation Keep unit at Port Aransas' UT Marine Science Institute): the osprey rescued on Sept. 28th near the hawk watch after she had been shot is continuing to mend, but is still not eating on her own. Not an altogether unusual situation at this stage, but of some concern, as she has to be force-fed twice a day. Tony says the prognosis for recovery to full flight status remains good. The shooting is being investigated by federal game wardens.  

October 12, 2002:

Another feast or famine day at the watch ... a dearth of hawks all day until a few hours in the afternoon. Paul reports some eyeball to eyeball views for many that did make it over the watch. A front is bearing down on the coastal bend tonight (so the weather folks say .... again. We'll see just how far south this one really gets this time!). If this front does come through at speed, it promises to shove through the hawks in its path ahead of it. Paul and Kirsten note the pre-frontal weather was already having an effect today:

"Things got interesting for a while today. We started off slow, and 1500 of our birds came between 2 and 5. Since we only had 1602 for the day, you can see that we had some quiet, relaxing hours for awhile. Of course, most of our birds came the hour after the SE wind picked up, and Kirsten said that with that wind, all of our birds would be low and pushed to the west. And boy, was she right! All of our birds after that point were within a few hundred feet of the ground, and quite a few of them off to the west. The ones that did fly overhead were spectacular! We had good clouds for most of the day, then the wind blew them north to join that advancing cold front. Hopefully, with that front blowing in, tomorrow will be really good."

Count for 10/12:
Black Vulture: 2
Turkey Vulture: 82
Osprey: 10
Harrier: 1
Sharpie: 75
Cooper's: 14
Red-shoulder: 1
Broad-wing: 1367
Swainson's: 21
Red-tail: 2
Kestrel: 18
Merlin: 2
Peregrine: 3
Unid. Acc: 2
Unid. Buteo: 2

Day total: 1602 

Paul's Dickey Bird Report: There were several small groups of Anhingas, several small groups of Wood Stork, and perhaps 300 White Pelicans today. No new migrants to be noted.

Paul's Butterfly report: We added 2 new species today, a Mexican Fritillary and an Empress Leilia.

UPDATE FOR THURSDAY, 10/10: note 1 dark morph Swainson's and 1 dark morph broadwing, out of the day's count.

Ocotber 13, 2002: 

The hawks did insist on barreling through the watch today along with a welcome cold front. This is the earliest yet we've seen vultures come through in the numbers recorded; they're about a week to ten days early in those numbers. Definitely a watch for the books this season. Here's Paul's take on the day: 

"Well, today did turn out to be good. Of course, the hawks still like coming in at the end of the day -- we had 5200 after 4 pm. Most of our birds for the day were Turkey Vultures and Swainson's, and at the end of the day we had one mixed kettle streaming in from way out front, mostly to the west, at the same time we had a group coming back from the SE. (Bob watched part of this group make a big loop over the golf course and come right back overhead). Made for a bit of a chaotic ending. And we had another 140 Turkey Vultures that looked to be setting down at Pollywog. As a result of all this we stayed until 6:30, and most of the locals went for jackets. Another half hour and I would have too. The day stayed cloudy for the most part, with a strong north wind, and the birds stayed fairly low."

Count for 10/13:
Turkey Vulture: 3290
Osprey: 2
Harrier: 1
Sharpie: 122
Cooper's: 17
Broad-wing: 458
Swainson's: 3277
Red-tail: 1
Harris': 1
Kestrel: 67
Merlin: 1
Peregrine: 2
Caracara: 2
Unid. Acc. 2
Unid. Raptor: 1
 
Day Total: 7244

Paul's Dickey Bird Report: "We had perhaps 500 Wood Storks in several kettles, and 1 that insisted on going back and forth over our heads. Looked like he was thinking of joining the kettles but couldn't get there. We also had a few small groups of Anhingas and two small kettles of Pelicans. But the highlights of the day were two small skeins of White-fronted Geese and 5 birds that we believe were Sandhill Cranes. (The lighting was horrible, so I guess that we can't positively rule out Wood Stork.)"

I'll echo Paul's thoughts that hopefully tomorrow will be good as well.

UPDATE FOR 10/11: On the 11th of October, subtract one Unid. Falcon, add one Unid. Acc., and add one Osprey, for a daily total of 4050.

October 14, 2002:

This month just keeps getting better and better! Yeah, we're still way down on average numbers, but spread out the way they are across the calendar instead of a week's worth or more of peak days, the counters are sure getting a lot more action for a lot longer days than normal. See, we can always find a silver lining! I admit it, I sucked in some pretty substantial air tonight when I saw veteran birder Brush Freeman's report from yesterday (from his house, no less!) on TexBirds. As Brush noted, his count ended up like a mini-Big Sit, especially in raptor numbers. Brush is located in Bastrop County, north and east of Corpus Christi by some four-five hours. Between 12 different raptors species, he counted about 7950 broadies, more than 12,350 Swainson's, 71 more of other buteos, falcons, accipiters, etc., and another 1500 unidentified raptors. Wow! Not bad, for a house count. He's on the raptor highway, though; right down the central flyway. Brush notes he's had even higher numbers in the past. 

Paul's report from today would bear out some of the flights reaching us here in Corpus Christi, to some degree. Of course, nothing's for sure, short of tracking the raptors with radio telemetry, but in terms of sheer numbers, it appears some of them made their way overhead. Here's Paul's rundown of the day's count:

"Well it was a cold day (for South Texas, anyways) on the hill. The mercury never quite broke 70 degrees, and the north breezes and heavy overcast never went away. I spent the day in a windbreaker and during the slow times I'll admit to fond thoughts of a sweatshirt as well. Joel actually wore long pants, and said that if it happens again he'll even wear socks! Still not a November day in Chicago, but I would certainly have dressed warmer for that. Despite the cold, we had plenty of birds, and with the clouds, they stayed nice and low, and mostly within a reasonable distance. This is good because they absolutely refused to segregate themselves! We had numerous kettles composed of Turkey Vultures, Broad-wings, and Swainson's, in varying proportions. Often nearly even proportions! The highlight of the day came early, a Ferruginous Hawk actually hunting the flats in front of the site. It disappeared to the west, still below the horizon for us, and Jo wasn't able to pick it up by driving down to the pond. Maybe it'll show up again. Anyways, here are the totals:"

Count for 10/14: 
Turkey Vulture: 2924
Osprey: 2
Harrier: 2
Sharpie: 48
Cooper's: 6
Broad-wing: 2332
Swainson's: 2217
Red-tail: 3
Ferruginous: 1
Kestrel: 6
Unid. Acc. 1
Unid. Raptor: 3

Day total: 7545

Paul's Dickey Bird Report: "More White-fronted Geese, with one flock actually calling. Still 3-400 Wood Storks, and a couple of small groups of Anhinga. Only one group of ~25 White Pelican. We did have a fair number of warblers, although nothing new for the season, and a Blue-headed Vireo. Oh, and before the watch this morning, I had a beautiful pair of Wood Ducks at Pollywog Ponds." 

Good rewards for shivering all day, eh? Thanks, Paul and Joel!

October 15, 2002:

UPDATE TO 10/14 report, Brush Freeman numbers: Brush reports the tags got switched in his report; should have been  7950 Swainson's and 12350 broadies. Still good numbers for each species.

As for today's watch report ...curiouser and curiouser. Ever feel like you've fallen down a rabbit hole? I'm sure that was a familiar feeling to the counters today, too, as they were treated to one of those rare river of raptors sights. Doesn't matter which species, when you see a river overhead of anything that goes half an hour or more, it's truly the thrill of a lifetime! When you see something like that well after the  traditional peak passage period, it's doubly thrilling! Today's "river" bird might surprise you, but then, it might not, if you remember watches from a few years back and recall migrational patterns for this time of year. Kirsten's got the color for us today:

"Yet another excellent day on the hill. We had to wear our "winter clothes" as it was quite chilly with the wind today. There were a few highlights to mention. One was the beautiful kettles of Swainsons, one stream of 200 passed directly over head with 7 dark morphs. Another was the prairie falcon, also passing over head, this makes 4 for the season. And an amazing sight, the sheer number of migrating turkey vultures we had today. We had one stream to the east that totaled 9700! It lasted for 40 minutes! Joel says it is the largest group of turkey vultures he has ever seen. It no doubt was the largest I had ever witnessed. Pretty fun, huh! - Kirsten"

Boy, howdy! I'd say so. BUT!!! If you think THAT was something, check out the additional report veteran hawk counter Glenn Swartz sent in tonight from his house, which sits on the top of the Nueces River bluff about a half mile north and east of the watch site. Glenn had his banding traps up at the house when he happened to look up around 5:30 tonight. Oh joyful fate! Holy buzzard bait, Batman ... that's a lot of vultures!:

"I sat out front and counted from 5:30ish (when I first saw them while letting the dog in) to 6:30 (until I caught a bird in the trap, the first one in 11 hours of trapping). I counted 70,800 TV's. There were about 75 SWHA and 3000 BWHA mixed in with them. I didn't count hawks, but I was looking for a Zone-tailed. No luck. - Glenn" 

Glenn quips that only Joel's seeing zone-tailed this season; poor Glenn! Hey, with 70,000+ vulture overhead, my eyes would be crossing, just trying to keep up with the river! Or should we call that an ocean? Whew. Definitely an 'ohmygosh!' flight. <grin!> So, far as I can tell, Glenn now holds the one-day record (shoot, make that the ONE HOUR record!) for vulture sightings amidst all the records in my possession for that area. That's gonna be one heckuva liftoff tomorrow, if any of those buddies came down within the range of Hazel's view of the WoodRiver overnight raptor lodgings.  

Just for fun, I went checking back over data from the past five HWI years, and then another 15 years from pre-HWI watch days. Even though we can't count Glenn's tally in the official watch count, the watch still managed to set a new one-day record today with its count for turkey vultures as well. Kudos! In 1999, the watch tallied a grand season total of 36,688 turkey vultures, with the peak day coming on October 12 (11,101) and a second peak following the very next day (8,136). In 2000, another banner year for turkey vultures, with a season total of 30,029. Peak flight in 2000 was on October 20, with 10,483 vultures counted. Fun, indeed! I'd say so! Outstanding! With today's flights, we're now up to over 23,900 turkey vultures on the official count, and we've got about four weeks or so yet to go. I'm banking on another few good count days, as indications from up north are that still more TV's are well on their way south.

Watch count for 10/16: 221 broad-winged hawks, 5 red-tailed hawks, 807 swainson's hawks, 2 red-shouldered hawks, 1 unidentified buteo, 17153 turkey vultures (!), 94 sharp-shinned hawks, 19 cooper's hawks, 10 unidentified accipiters, 44 american kestrels, 6 peregrine falcons, 1 merlin, 1 osprey, 6 northern harriers, 1 prairie falcon, and 10 unidentified raptors. 

Day total: 18381 

Another watch milestone for the current season: we passed the half million mark today for the 2002 fall season. Congratulations to all of the counters, volunteers and other friends on the hill for their many hours of hard work and support! And special nods, too, to the folks who aren't on the hill, but generously share with us their sightings from their own locations along the flyways as well! This fall season's count may not be one of the most voluminous for Hazel Bazemore, but it's certainly one of the most memorable in terms of sheer entertainment!

October 16, 2002:

Yep, it's nice when the birds cooperate. As anticipated, there WAS a liftoff this morning, quite a decent one, too. Kirsten has the details in tonight's report:

"Great lift off this morning. 3304 birds from 8:30 to 9:00am and 6193 birds from 9-10am. There were raptors flying everywhere! The rest of the day was fairly constant, great day for accipiters. It was slow at the end of the day, unlike yesterday, so we probably won't have a lift off of as great of numbers as tomorrow."

Count for 10/16: 3 black vultures, 7612 turkey vultures, 3 northern harriers, 183 sharp-shinned hawks, 66 Cooper's hawks, 9 red-shouldered hawks, 3555 broad-winged hawks, 17 Swainson's hawks (no wind from the north west, no more Swainsons!), 14 red-tailed hawks, 38 American kestrels, 9 unidentified accipiters, 1 unidentified buteo, 2 unidentified falcon, and 8 unidentified raptors. 

Day total: 11520

Winds are moving from NE to ESE tonight, so we'll be back in the extended summer patterns until the next front comes through.

October 17, 2002:

As expected, the wind shifts also shifted the raptors back around. Paul brings in tonight's rundown:

"Well, we didn't get too many of those northern Turkey Vultures today. Altogether, we didn't quite break 1000. However, the birds were nicely spread out, as our biggest hour was only 216, and the slowest full hour was 89. As happened yesterday, the real story was accipiters, with 188 total accips. It was perhaps our finest day yet for weather, though. Nice clouds for most of the day, 80 or so degrees, and a nice breeze. Perfect weather. (For September, that is, but ah, well...)."

<grin!> ... and so it goes, Paul. The weekend will hopefully be as pleasant, as anticipated rains now appear to be spotty to none (now that I've put that in writing, watch Mother Nature remind us who's really boss again, <grin!>. 

Count for 10/17:
Black Vulture: 3
Turkey Vulture: 191
Osprey: 3
Harrier: 4
Sharpie: 142
Cooper's: 36
Red-shoulder: 1
Broad-wing: 532
Swainson's: 3
Red-tail: 5
Kestrel: 25
Unid. Acc. 10
Unid. Buteo: 1
Unid. Raptor: 3

Day total: 959

Paul's Dickey Bird Report: "We had several good size groups of Pelicans, for 500-600 total. A very few Anhinga, mostly in groups of 2 or 3. There were scattered Wood Storks, with one significant kettle, but most of the Storks were seen taking off from the pond first thing in the morning. There were a few Sandhill Cranes, but most of them must still be back home in Illinois. There were also a few White-fronted Geese moving around."

October 18, 2002:

Zero, zip, nada, nothing. Not one migrating hawk in sight. Joel says winds were strong south/southeast, cloud cover was total and brief rains dotted the area.

October 19, 2002:

Not much better today, but Joel says at least there were a few hawks before the frontal system hanging around north of us decided to push on through late in the evening. Joel quips there were more observers than hawks for most of the day, but by watch end, a few migrants made it on the list:

Count for 10/19:
turkey vulture 30
osprey 1
sharpshinned hawks 5
Cooper's hawk 1
American kestrel 1

Day total: 38

October 20, 2002:

The frontal system boomed through last night with thunder, lightening and rain (and hail reported in some places), but no cold air has moved in yet to back it up. Even with the warm air overhead today, winds remained out of the north/northeast, bringing some raptors overhead. Kirsten has the rundown:

"We had a little lift off of turkey vultures from Pollywog Pond (Ed. note: a birding hotspot a couple miles north and east of the watch) this morning, Joel and I stopped by there before the watch this morning and saw them all perched on the poles." 

Count for 10/20: 
1 black vulture
860 turkey vultures
2 osprey
1 northern harrier
72 sharp-shinned
26 coopers
113 broad-wings
2 swainson's
2 red-tails
23 kestrels
1 merlin
2 unidentified accipiters

Day total: 1105

October 21, 2002:

The 24th species for this season was logged in on today's count. Paul brings us the goodies on it!

"The weather was decent, a bit muggy without too much wind, but not too hot and we had good clouds, and even one quick spot of rain. The birds started off well, but after 2pm we had only 30 birds total. Fortunately, one of them was an adult Bald Eagle, nice and close for a few seconds before flying off to the west, then southwest. A nice reward for the last 3.5 hours of boredom."

That would brighten anyone's watch, especially in south Texas! Now, what's this about broadie numbers? <grin!>

Count for 10/21:
Turkey Vulture: 100
Osprey: 4
Bald Eagle: 1 adult
Northern Harrier: 2
Sharpie: 56
Cooper's: 40
Broad-wing: 75 (I swear we didn't make these numbers up)
Swainson's: 3
Red-tail: 3
Kestrel: 17
Merlin: 1
Unid. Acc. 3
Unid. Buteo: 1
Unid. Falcon: 1
Unid. Raptor: 1

Day Total: 308

Paul's Dickey Bird Report: "We had one small group of about 40 Anhinga, perhaps 30 Wood Storks, and only one even smaller group of Pelicans, almost all of these in the morning. We also had 7 Sandhill Cranes in two small groups. On the ground, we had 2 Groove-billed Anis late in the day and a Black-throated Gray Warbler which made a brief appearance in our Persimmon tree. On a continuing note, our local Harriers have been flushing up large numbers of Common Snipe from the pond area on a daily basis."

October 22, 2002:

Well, now this is just downright funny! Yesterday I teased Paul about the watch nabbing a bald eagle finally for the count. Told him now we need to get a golden eagle, to cover our eagle bases. Heh! Ask, and ye shall receive! Too bad we can't count the golden ... though it did show up over the watch today, it was headed north, the wrong way! Careful what you ask for, eh? <grin!>

Paul notes the watch got rained out for good around 4:15 today. Not bad, considering squalls were all over the area all day. Here's the official tally:

Count for 10/22:
turkey vulture 213
sharpies 12
Cooper's 4
broadies 2
Swainson's 1
kestrels 2
peregrines 2
caracaras 2
unid accipiter 2

Day total: 240

UPDATE TO 10/22 count: clarification by Joel; the golden eagle (an immature) has been added to the day's count per HWI watch protocols. Cool!! That brings the watch to 25 species for the season so far.

October 23, 2002:

Note the update to yesterday's count: the golden eagle was added to the official log per HWI protocols. Cool! That brings us to 25 species for the season so far. But as Kirsten noted tonight, one can't see eagles every day. Apparently one can see quite a few turkey vultures, though, without too much strain! The most exciting event today was the boomer of a thunderstorm that blasted through our area between 4am and 6am this morning. Winds gusted to 80 mph, tearing limbs, shingles, signs and a few homes apart in its path. Sites near the watch got from two to five inches of rain (got five at our own house on the coast 25 miles east of the watch site). But once the band of squalls passed through the area, skies cleared for the most part and the watch was on. More weather is anticipated through the weekend as Hurricane Kenna in the Pacific continues to burn itself out, spinning bands of squalls our way over the mountains in Mexico to the south, and a cold front finally makes its way to us from the north (the last two stalled out). Both systems should "collide" over the watch site on the weekend, though the collision may not amount to much by the time the confluences meet.  

Count for 10/23:
turkey vultures 77
sharp-shinned 12
Coopers 3
broad-wing 1
red-tail 1
kestrel 1

Day total: 95

October 24, 2002:

Wow, if you watched the Weather Channel today, you got a good look at Corpus Christi, Texas in the throes of a major storm system complete with tornadoes that blasted through our city this afternoon. In spite of the weather, Kirsten reports the watch was open for two and a half hours today, and yes, there were a few hawks! 

Count for 10/24:
turkey vultures 8
broadwinged hawk 1
peregrine falcon 1
caracara 1

Day total: 11

We're told more weather like today is headed our way tomorrow and through the weekend, as Hurricane Kenna (Pacific coast, off Mexico) dies a very slow death and spirals inland on a path that is projected to take it right over our heads sometime this weekend. No telling what that will do to migration over the next few days. Nothing like a late-season hurricane coming in the "back door" to make life interesting!

October 25, 2002:

Little to no rain today. A nice break after racking up another six inches or so at our house yesterday. Kept the hawks down, even so. Kirsten reports only 3 sharpies for the entire day.

October 26, 2002:

The watch was rained out today, thanks to the remnants of Hurricane Kenna dousing south Texas all day long.

October 27, 2002:

Paul brings in today's report: "Things started out slow under a low cloud cover, fog, and a 'pineapple mist' sort of drizzle. However, once the clouds began to lift around 11, the birds picked up a bit."

Count for 10/27:
Black Vulture: 2
Turkey Vulture: 137
Sharpie: 11
Cooper's: 4
Broad-wing: 3
Swainson's: 1
Red-tail: 3
Kestrel: 11
Unid. Acc. 1
Unid. Raptor: 1

Day total: 174 

October 28, 2002:

Another slow day with more rain. Some of it quite heavy, 3-4 inches in places. Kirsten reports the watch was only open for four hours today (longer than I would have thought, given the storms all around and over us throughout the day). Not much flying, however:

Count for 10/28:
turkey vulture 7
sharpshinned hawk 1

Day total: 8

Paul's Dickey Bird Report: "We had about 40 Anhinga, 3 Wood Stork, perhaps 50 White Pelicans. We only saw three Sandhill Cranes, but we could hear them off in the distance for much of the morning. (Probably complaining about the weather). The real stories, however, were the lone female (?) Black-throated Gray Warbler and the approximately 200 Franklin's Gulls that came through, some of them directly overhead. We also had some Northern Shoveler's and one American Wigeon on Lake Hazel, which by the way has returned, smaller than last time, for the moment at least."

October 29, 2002:

Everything's soggier than a day old donut in a glass of milk around here. But no rain!! Finally! Kirsten echoes the sentiment from the hill (which is experiencing the Lake Hazel phenomenon once again) in tonight's report:

"The hawk watch was really fun today. The weather was absolutely beautiful. Finally no more rain! We had north to northeast winds and it brought us in some birds." 

Count for 10/29:
15 black vultures
787 turkey vultures
1 northern harrier
82 sharp-shinned hawks
20 cooper's hawks
91 broad-winged hawks
5 swainson's hawks
11 red-tailed hawks
23 american kestrels
1 peregrine falcon
5 unidentified accipiters
3 unidentified buteos
1 unidentified falcon
4 unidentified raptors

Day total: 1049

Kirsten notes the highlight of the day was an immature rufous morph red-tail that "was circling again and again right over us, then finally we thought it was leaving but it turned back to circle again with our local light morph red tail. It was a beautiful bird. Sunny days for tomorrow as well!" 

Ahhh, we do live for days like that, don't we? Outstanding! Rumor (and weatherfolk) have it a cold front is headed our way in a day or so, with a second cold front on its tail. We're all more than ready for cooler, drier (emphasis on the "dry") air for a change. <grin>.

October 30, 2002:

Looks like the promised second cold front is going to poop out on us. Not a surprise; most of them do until some really good Arctic Express fronts barrel through later in the season. In the meantime, though, Paul says the hill enjoyed yet another day today without rain: 

"Well, once we figured out that there was nothing wrong with the sky (it wasn't gray!) we had a pretty nice day today. Actually it was a beautiful day, with clear skies, 80 degrees, and N to NE winds. Things started off really well, but died by about 11, just about when the winds swung to the NE. The real raptor story, however, wasn't even a migrant -- we spotted a Crested Caracara carrying what looked like a bat (we're not too sure about that id.), which wouldn't be too surprising, but the bird was using it's bill, not it's talons. Does anyone know if this is common behavior for Caracaras? Incidentally, it continued to hold the item in it's bill even while perched, and as it left it's perch and flew out of sight."

(Editor's Note: caracaras do transport their prey if they aren't comfortable at the kill sight. I've witnessed that behavior countless times involving various carrion pieces, and small bunny rabbits. A bat, however, is new to my experience. Opportunistic as caracaras are, it wouldn't surprise me if one happened upon a sick, dying or dead bat and opted to have it for lunch. Not the usual fare, though, for sure. Good observation!")

Count for 10/30:
Black Vulture: 3
Turkey Vulture: 663
Osprey: 2
Northern Harrier: 2
Sharp-shinned: 49
Cooper's: 20
Red-shoulder: 3
Broad-wing: 18
Swainson's: 6
Red-tail: 2
Kestrel: 8
Unid. Acc. 3
Unid. Buteo: 1
Unid. Raptor: 6

Day total: 786

Paul's Dickey Bird Report: "A scattering of Anhingas, mostly flying with Vultures early. Several hundred White Pelicans, including a few seen sitting in Lake Hazel for a while first thing in the morning. NO Wood Storks -- apparently this talk of cold fronts scared the last of them away. 13 Sandhill Cranes, including 11 traveling with Pelicans and calling -- have you ever heard Pelicans bugle? Perhaps a hundred Franklin's Gulls. And one surprise, for me: two Chimney Swifts, that I thought were gone for good by this time." 

Paul also noted six snow geese graced the skies overhead today, and on the ground, an adult and an immature white-crowned sparrow gave observers some good looks.

Paul's Insect Report: "I know, this is normally a butterfly report, but aside from a faded American Painted Lady there wasn't anything out of the ordinary there. There was, however, a largish ichneumonid wasp (the parasitic ones) that had stung a caterpillar somewhat longer than itself, and was carrying it around the area just behind where we sit. We watched it locate a hole it had dug previously, dig it out a bit, fight off several fire ants, carry the caterpillar into the hole, and then cover the hole to the point where we had a hard time relocating it later. In fact, I'm not sure that I'll be able to find the spot tomorrow."

Now that's neat!! Different dramas unfold every day as various species find themselves engaged in life or death struggles. It's all there to be seen and learned from, sometimes right under our noses, if we're just careful enough to look around from time to time.

Hope the little goblins and ghouls in your lives had the time of their lives today. I spent my day playing practical jokes on my co-workers at the lab. I probably shouldn't go to work tomorrow. Paybacks can be .... interesting! <grin!>

The treat of the day was an interesting Swainson's through the watch. The trick of the day was .... more rain! Ack! But not much, really; just enough, though, to chase the watch out before noon. Even so, Paul reports some migrants winging through ahead of the wet wave:

"Well, the usual rain returned today, lighter but still able to drive us out by 1130. We did get a few birds before then, and in fact the first half hour was pretty interesting, until our biggest group of birds, a kettle of 31 Turkey Vultures, went right overhead on their way straight to the Northeast. Hmmmmm... Those we didn't count, however. The day started gray and windy, and quite cool (64 degrees) and only got wetter. Here are the day's totals:"

Count for 10/31:
Black Vulture: 1
Turkey Vulture: 29
Harrier: 2
Sharpie: 4
Cooper's: 3
Broad-wing: 4
Swainson's: 1 rufous morph, right at 8:30.
Red-tail: 2
Kestrel: 2

Day total: 48

Paul's Dickey Bird Report: "No Anhingas, no Wood Storks. We had 6 White Pelicans, 13 Sandhill Cranes, and 10 Snow and 3 White-fronted Geese. 4 of the Snow's were blue. We also had perhaps 250 Franklin's Gulls."

Editor's Note: we're also on the lookout for migrating monarch butterflies, so anyone spotting up any stagings, please notify me privately. Our regional monarch banders, Harlen and Altus in Victoria, alerted us to massive numbers passing through their Victoria, TX area this week. Petra Hockey, up coast in Port O'Connor, also noted large numbers in her trees. South Texas hawk watchers should keep their eyes peeled for those little beauties winging their way southward.