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!?
 

November 1, 2003:

Today's report comes from Taylor: 

After a couple of crummy days, today was refreshing, or maybe it was just the high winds that picked up in the afternoon....

11 black vultures
1132 turkey vultures
2 ospreys
1 northern harrier
8 sharpshinned hawks
5 cooper's hawks
1 red-shouldered hawk
2 red-tailed hawks
1 white-tailed hawk
1 kestrel
3 crested caracaras, calling as they flew together low over the site
4 unidentified accipiters
1 unidentified large falcon
1 unidentified raptor

That's 1173 total, and at least 11 species for the day.

Thanks, Taylor. What a deal! Just got notice a few minutes ago from Brush Freeman up north of us about a lot of vultures passing through Bastrop County and headed our way (few hundred miles north of us). Looks like others have found us. Definitely a good day for variety and quantity! Now, if we can just get rid of the humidity ... 

November 02, 2003:

Today's report comes from Ricky: 

Black Vulture= 3
Turkey Vulture= 885
Sharp shinned Hawk= 2
Swainson's Hawk= 10
Red tailed Hawk= 2
Unid. Accipiter= 1
Unid. Raptor= 2
total= 905

So, we had quite number of TV. Actually, we had another landing this afternoon. 
there were 350 birds coming back to stay overnight. 

Thanks, Ricky! Temperatures were nice on the hill today; better than what we expected after all the heat and humidity this week. We also found out what makes the hawks fly over (besides chocolate, of course!) ... leaving the watch site. Never fails to bring in a flight. Ricky told us as Bill and I left the hill today, 100 turkey vultures came sailing in behind us. We'll try not to take it personally. <grin!> 

November 03, 2003:

Apologies for yesterday's newsgropus report having the wrong date. It of course was meant for November 2. Here's the report for November 3: 

Today's report comes from Taylor: 

Little to report, the numbers speak for themselves. It continues to be humid and in the 80s here in Corpus Christi, I think fall forgot about us. 

We have been in the same weather pattern for several days now (that's what makes it a pattern), cloudy and warm, southeast wind picking up to cool things off a bit in the afternoons and drop the humidity. Every once in a while a group of vultures goes by, occasionally with other birds mixed in. 

The biggest groups always come near the end of the day for some reason.

3 black vultures
872 turkey vultures
2 ospreys
a northern harrier
2 sharpies
a cooper's hawk
5 swainson's hawks
3 red-tailed hawks
889 for Monday 11/3.

Thanks, Taylor. Humidity is right. Boy, even for Texas weather, the amount of humidity this late in the season is weird. 

Kudos to Jerry Ingles for pointing out that the notations on dark morph broadwings went missing from the season to date list. I also noticed the DM notation for Swainson's disappeared, too. They've now been reinstated. Thanks, Jerry! 

Hey, have you guys been checking out the night skies for those incredible aurora borealis displays? The massive sun flare/sun spot activity over the last couple weeks have brought auroras down even to Florida! NASA has a whole gallery of them (www.spaceweather.com) (one of my favorite sites on the entire web). Texans, check out the auroras over Houston on Oct. 29th. Houston! Wow! Who'da thunk it? Even Florida is seeing them. It pays to keep your eyes up at night, too, these days! 

November 04, 2003:

Today's report comes from Ricky: 

Black Vulture= 128
Turkey Vulture= 702
Northern Harrier= 3
Sharp shinned Hawk= 11
Cooper's Hawk= 6
Broad winged Hawk= 2
Swainson's Hawk= 4
Red tailed Hawk= 6
American Kestrel= 2
Peregrine Falcon= 1
Unid. Accipiter= 5
Unid. Buteo= 1
Total= 871

Thanks, Ricky! What a great day for black vultures! Turkeys weren't too shabby, either. And still seeing broadies. Cool! 

November 05, 2003:

Today's report comes from Taylor: 

Today was like the past few days... a merlin made an appearance which was nice, and we had flocks of greater white fronted geese, with snow geese mixed in. Why is it so warm here?

29 black vultures
418 turkey vultures
2 sharpies
a cooper's hawk
a broadwinged hawk (lost)
a merlin
an unidentified accip.

453 for today.

Thanks, Taylor! Warm? This isn't warm. This is cool. This is a south Texas cool fall day. Hey, any time the temps fall below 90-degrees F around here, we call it a cool spell. An actual fairly dry "front" (we do use that term somewhat loosely around here, too) is supposed to be coming through Thursday evening/night, bringing north/northeast winds to us for a few hours. Maybe even through Friday if we're lucky. It's not a strong front; won't affect temps much, and it won't stick long, but we'll take what we can get. It should be sufficient to bring some birds overhead that would otherwise go a tad bit more west of the watch site. Let's hope so! There are still lots of birds to come through. Aside from our obvious focal point of raptors, there are still good numbers of passerines, shorebirds, and now geese and cranes being reported all around as well. Migration isn't over by a long shot. Late, yes, but certainly not over. 

November 6, 2003:

Today's report comes from Ricky, who says the watch was slow, but enjoyed a nice variety of raptors: 

Black Vulture= 6
Turkey Vulture= 180
Osprey= 2
Northern Harrier= 3
Sharp shinned Hawk= 22
Cooper's Hawk= 10
Broad winged Hawk= 13!
Red tailed Hawk= 2
American Kestrel= 2
Anid. Accipiter= 3
Unid. Buteo= 2
Unid. Raptor= 3
Total= 248

Thanks, Ricky! The front's moving through tonight. Breezes are cooler, winds are shifting. We'll see if it does any good for tomorrow. 

November 7, 2003:

Today's report comes from Taylor: 

Today it cooled off significantly, and the wind was from the north. 
Unfortunately the weather change didn't bring many hawks, or maybe we just couldn't see them since visibility was terrible because of fog, haze, and low clouds. Interestingly, yesterday was a sharpie day, today was a coop day, go figure. Anyway, here are the totals:

2 black vultures
87 turkey vultures
a northern harrier
2 sharp-shinned hawks
16 cooper's hawks
4 broadwinged hawks
4 red-tailed hawks
2 kestrels
an unidenitifed accipiter
2 unidentified raptors, in the haze
total: 121

Only one week of hawk watching left.... that snail kite had better hurry up, and don't get me started on the gyrfalcon (I thought we had a deal!)...

Thanks, Taylor! Shhhhh, they'll think we're doing mojo to bring in those oddballs! (Hawks, not hawk watchers! But then again ... )., The weather's certainly been a lot cooler than we skeptics anticipated. Too many years of watching fronts fizzle before they even hit. Next week is supposed to bring an even stronger front. Hope springs eternal!  

November 8, 2003: 

Another of the world's shortest reports -- Ricky reports the watch was rained out, both days. 

November 9, 2003:

The second rain out day of the weekend. The full moon that finally broke out late tonight gives hope that Monday will be more clear and yield some of the backed up birds from the backed-up cold front of last week that has been dribbling itself out over south Texas all weekend. 

November 10, 2003:

Today's report is from Joel:

Several skeins of geese, both snows and white-fronted, gave the sense of fall, but a late single Wood Stork was more like summer. An aerial combat between our resident kestrel and one trying to make it through its winter territory was fun to watch.

Turkey Vulture........333
Northern Harrier..........1
Sharp-shinned Hawk...4
Cooper's Hawk..........11
Red-tailed Hawk..........5
American Kestrel.........1
Unidentified Accipiter...4
Total- 359

Thanks, Joel! Fall sure has taken a back seat to warm, humid weather again. At least until the next front rolls in (said to be here in a couple days). The weather has been rolling in and out like waves on the beach. Warm and humid until a front cools things off a few days, then back to warm and humid for a few days, then another front rolls in. The weather "waves" are relatively gentle and regular at the moment. No blue northers yet to kick things up several notches. I think our counters will get off lightly this fall without having to stand watch in 40-degree highs. A shame, though, that they'll miss the wonder of the extremes of needing ice and ice cream in the early watch days' heat to warming hands over steaming thermoses of coffee and hot chocolate in the waning days of the watch. A full round of all four seasons in three months. Yep, when the raptors are slow to fly, there's still plenty of Texas weather action (or inaction!) to keep one entertained! 

Oh, an update tonight for Texas monarch watchers ... the Aschens in Victoria (Monarch Watchers) report monarch butterflies are now crossing Lavaca Bay (just about 90 miles or so away up coast from us). That was a welcome alert! We've been wondering if the monarchs had slipped on by us, but the monarch banders and network watchers have been keeping close tabs on the flights and assure us we haven't been bypassed. Keep your eyes open for stagings, and let the monarch folks know if you come across any (they love to get photos and video of them, too)!  

November 11, 2003:

Today's report is from Ricky:

Black Vulture= 11
Turkey Vulture= 207
Sharp shinned= 2
Broad winged= 1
Unid. Buteo= 1
Total= 222

Thanks, Ricky! And yet another broadwinged hawk! Cool! Today was really pretty with nice cumie clouds in blue skies. With all the chocolate at today's farewell luncheon and tonight's hawk watch program at our local birding club's meeting, you guys should have a ton of hawks coming through on Wednesday! Watch is counting down ... HWI closes watch on November 15th, so if you've been meaning to get on out to the hill, you've still got a few days to join the crews! Please do! 

November 12, 2003:

Today's report is from Taylor:

I have decided that today was the last hot, muggy, and bug-ridden day at the hawk watch. No mas. Three days left, bring your mittens. Our rarity for today was Ricardo Perez, a late sighting, we don't expect to see him again on the hill this season. Thanks for all the help Ricardo, hope you find a warm place in Albuquerque....

22 black vultures
144 turkey vultures
3 sharp-shinned hawks
3 cooper's hawks
1 broadwinged hawk
3 red-tailed hawks
1 kestrel
2 unidentified accipiters
179 in all today.

Thanks in advance to those of you who come out these next few days and keep Joel and me from going crazy. Also thanks to Patty and Bill of Tailfeather Productions for the great video they have created about the hawk watch. We all enjoyed looking back on the season... has it only been three months? What? It seemed like one month, or six.... the time is as much of a blur as the unidentified accip I saw cruising by today for 2 seconds at a code 3 altitude. Can't be sure about the species, but it sure was an accip, by golly.

Thanks, Taylor! We were so thrilled to see everyone again at yesterday's watch close luncheon and again at our program last night (slides from the program will be up on the Texas Hawk Watches web site in another day or so, by the way, in a slide show photo album overview of the Hazel watch this fall -- Mary Ellis, you asked for it; you got it!). 

I have such mixed feelings about this time of year. I know the hill folks are relieved watch is nearly over ... but at the same time, I'm also a bit sad that we won't have this time to share with each other until next watch. I tell ya, our crew at Hazel this fall was absolutely top notch. Taylor and Ricky set a new standard for friendliness and tolerance and perseverance. They met every challenge with a grin and made every mosquito work for every drop of blood they were forced to donate. They put up with humidity, heat, really corny jokes and gave as good as they got! You guys are welcome on the hill and in our homes any time, and we mean that very sincerely! Ricky has already said he'll come back ... as long as he doesn't have to count! Says he's still counting hawks in his sleep. Happens to us all, Ricky! And take my word for it, guys, for the rest of your lives, every time you see a flight overhead ... you'll start counting those little buddies whether you intend to or not. It's in your blood; we've programmed you for life! <laugh!> Just wait until your clicker fingers start twitching as the flights go by. Non-hawk watch folks will think it's an odd quirk. The hawk watchers among us will just smile knowingly and nod ... we know how it is! Safe journey, Ricky. Albuquerque should be very appreciative to get you. 

Okay, since Taylor seems to think we'll really get some "for real" cold weather out of the front that is supposed to blast through us in the middle of the night tonight, we'll get the sweatshirts out before we go to bed, in the spirit of solidarity! <grin!> Hey, who knows; Taylor and Joel might get that five-figure vulture flight yet before watch ends! Only three days to go ... yikes! Everyone who can, be sure to get out to your local hawk watch site and boost up the crews as we take this puppy home for another season's end! 

November 13, 2003:

Today's report is from Taylor:

Today was very slow, the front only dropped temps down to 75, and we had less birds than usual. We did see our first eastern bluebird of the watch, lots of gaggles of snow geese, and one ross' goose with the snow geese.

7 turkey vultures
1 osprey
1 sharpie
3 cooper's hawks
2 broadwinged hawks
1 swainson's hawk
1 unidentified raptor
16 for today.

Thanks, Taylor! Hah! Did Mother Nature pull one over on us! The "front" (there I go with those quotation marks again) did the usual south Texas maneuver of coming to a screeching halt long before it even sniffed our humid coastal air. That sucker died and gasped its last little breath all over us before rolling over belly up. That "little breath" being 25-30 knot winds that blew everything that wasn't nailed down into a swirling mess all day long. Apparently the alleged front didn't even impress migrating raptors into blitzing through in a huge mass. Ah well, like I told Taylor, with the front pooping out on us, at least we now have less risk of having to end the watch on a rain out day (rain was predicted with the front for Saturday). The weekend is now supposed to be gorgeous. Of course, that forecast comes from the same folks who told us our temps would be dropping at least 30 degrees when the "really strong cold front" freight-trained its way through
the Coastal Bend last night. Uh huh. I'll settle for no rain, a lot less humidity, and a nice wind shift to the north! <grin!>  

November 14, 2003:

Today's report is from Taylor:

Today was super slow until the very end. We had no birds for the first 4 hours!, then 2 birds, then a group of 17 vultures, and finally around 2:45 we got a good flight (535) of vultures, always at the end of the day with these vultures, strange.

552 turkey vultures
a northern harrier, adult male
a sharpie

And that's it. Slowest day for me in a long time, except for that flight at the end.... hopefully tomorrow will have a more exciting morning, but if not, hey, that's the way Joel's golf ball bounces (inside joke).

Thanks, Taylor! 

No, he didn't tell me the golf ball joke, either; we'll have to hope they spill the beans in tomorrow's report. <grin!> 

November 15, 2003:

The final fall season report is from Taylor:

---------------

On the last day of the watch, we were treated to birds every hour. Not many birds, but still a decent day. It has been a great three months, I had over 40 life birds and learned an immense amount about birds, birdwatching, migration, rare bird committees, WWII, the navy in general, submarines, tex-mex food, El Salvador, Mexico, growing up in small towns in Texas, how to drink Tecate properly, the oil industry, refineries, boll weevils, hook-billed kites, and a bunch of other stuff that I can't think of at this moment but will remember after I send this email. Thanks especially to Joel who is done counting hawks professionally (no mas), I am thankful to have had the chance to work with and learn from him.

397 hawks on the last day:

392 turkey vultures
1 osprey
2 sharp-shinned hawks
1 red-tailed hawk
1 unidentified accipiter

Goodbye!

---------------

Thanks, Taylor! No, sweetie, not goodbye. Never goodbye. Around here, it's "see ya later," since we really never know when we'll run across each other again - we just know it's very, very possible we will! Never was that belief more clear than this summer, when our 2003 Fall Volunteer of the Year Bob Creglow ran into one of our former counters, Beth, at a remote park while Bob vacationed in Montana this past summer - a totally unexpected, but memorable and touching reunion for both. See, we really don't like to let go, either of watch, or of the wonderful additions to our family that come into the fold each season. As evidenced by holding the final report a day late while our crew and dozens of intrepid volunteers wipe the sweat from collective brows and ponder the meaning of life after hawk watch. Actually, we just were all running so fast in so many directions, the report's just plain late! <grin!> But you already knew that. Group hugs and lots of warm-n-fuzzies to our crew: Joel, Taylor and Ricky; one hell of a good team! And to the many, many, many volunteers, local and non-local, who did so much and asked so little in return, and provided memorable companionship and camaraderie throughout the entire watch and beyond. 

Some final notes: the slide show of the fall 2003 season is still being worked on, and should be up on line some time in the next several days. Looking over the numbers, we really have had a good season. Maybe not top numbers, but nothing shabby, certainly. Definitely good in species counts. Joel promises we'll hash over the season more thoroughly in a final wrap report which will be posted here and on the Texas Hawk Watches web site at a later date, once the dust has settled and thoughts have cleared somewhat from heads steeped in hawks and chocolate 24/7. We've had a ball, folks, and I'm so grateful to everyone who took the time to write in and let us know your thoughts. We'll be around and you know where to find us, via email or via the Texas Hawk Watches web site. Drop by, any time.

One final word to those folks who attended the 2003 Hawk Migration Association of North America conference and inquired about a copy of the short video Bill and I produced and showed at the conference on the history of the Hazel Bazemore Hawk Watch. We've finally tweaked the video through version 4 and think it's ready to go public now, so if you're still interested in obtaining a copy, email us at Tailfeather Productions (the email is tailfeather@ccbirding.com). It will be available in DVD and VHS. 

Watch may be over, but the raptors are still around. Keep your eyes to the skies!