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Greetings from the hill! We're baaa-aaack!
Are you ready for some hawk-watching? We're hitting the ground at full
run this fall, so hang on. It's going to be one heck of a ride!! August 15, 2006:
Dane's report:
Awesome day ....
Mississippi Kites = 309
Swallow-tailed Kites = 12
Swainson's Hawks = 11
Peregrine Falcons = 2
Red-tailed Hawks = 2
Cooper's Hawk = 1
Harris's Hawk = 1
White-tailed Hawk = 1
Unidentified Buteo = 1
Unidentified Accipiter = 1
Total = 341
Total Bird species for day was 53 ... non-Raptor highlights included
Groove-billed Ani, Upland Sandpiper, Olive Sparrow, White-tipped Dove,
Great Kiskadee, Olive-sided Flycatcher, Green Jay, Yellow-billed Cuckoo,
Wood Stork, Black Tern ...
( and oh yes , a 'resident' adult Red-shouldered Hawk - 'Texana'
subspecies ).
Also - several good sized flights of Anhinga ...
The 2 Peregrines were together ( immies ) and looked to be having lots
of fun ...
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Thanks, Dane! An awesome day, indeed! An excellent kickoff to the
season! You know, Bill and I were joking with the crew as we left the
hill this morning. In just a couple hours that we were there, some good
birds came through ... MiKi's, Swainson's, a red-tailed, and some other
assorted raptors. Of course, everyone had a weather eye peeled for that
all elusive swallow-tailed kite, but by the time we left, no joy. So we
joked on the way out that they needed to keep a sharp lookout ...
because ... since we were leaving ... that would likely bring in a
swallow-tailed kite (the bird everyone now wants to see on opening day
... or any other watch day, for that matter, heh!). Who, hawk watchers,
superstitious? Nahhh! Even so, little did we suspect a whole dozen of
the things would sail on by!
One side note; my web computer is still in the computer hospital (it
went down last week) so it'll be a couple more days before I get the web
site updated. Bear with me ... it's my first priority the moment it
comes back home.
On behalf of everyone on the Hill ... welcome back! We're all looking
forward to a fantastic fall migration!
Cheers,
Patty
August 16, 2006:
Dane's report:
(Editor's note: I kinda busted Dane's chops a little for not sending
along any details on the dozen swallow-tailed kites from the first day
of watch, <laugh!>!! We all live for details! Well, most of us, at
least. Dane was kind enough to spill the beans today, and from the looks
of today's report ... it's stacking up to be a banner hatch/survival
year for those babies!):
In regards to yesterday's Swallow-tailed distribution : we had 8
individuals in one flight : these Beauties formed a loose kettle - and
then streamed - perhaps in tribute in the Broad-winged Hawk ... this
exciting moment occurred between 2+ 3pm - Texas time ...
today - well today we had a total of 18 Swallow-tailed Kites ( numbers
to follow ) ... and oh yes - it was perhaps not an instant stream - but
in less than 5 minutes - we had 13 in one flight - yes , 13 ... all of
our Swallow-tailed Kites seen today , were seen between 11am and 3pm -
Texas time ...
Today's total count ... (08-16-06)
Mississippi Kites : 103
Swallow-tailed Kites : 18
Swainson's Hawks : 11
Red-tailed Hawk : 1
Total = 133
Today's non-Raptor highlights included Blue Grosbeak ( male ) , Reddish
Egret .
Resident Raptors species observed : White-tailed Hawks ( including 1
subadult ) , Harris's Hawk , Red-tailed Hawk , Crested Caracara , Turkey
and Black Vultures ... most of the looks at Swallow-tailed Kites have
been in the good-to-excellent range ... we have thus far, been able to
positively 'age' , 12 out of the 30 that we have seen ... so - 10am to
2pm is a good bet for Swallow-tailed Kites at Hazel Bazemore ... with
that said , 1 or 2 individuals , involved in a 9am ( Texas time )
liftoff , is not out of the question ... total Bird species seen and/or
heard in Hazel Bazemore Park by Count Staff and Friends :
(08-15-06 thru 08-16-06 = 65 )
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Thanks, Dane!! Definitely shaping up to be a good swallow-tailed kite
season, at the very least. Oddly enough, many of our watchers have been
remarking how "early" the migrants are coming through. Actually, the
migrants are coming through back on old schedules. It's been so long
since we've had any kind of "normal" migration (and I do use those
quotes deliberately) that we had to stop and think about it a little
bit. Often, we'd be out scouting in late July and by August 1st, we'd be
seeing kites and other assorted migrants already winging south. For the
past several (four-five?) years, just the opposite, birds coming late
into August and straggling at that. It's been dry dry dry down here;
officially in drought most of this year, when we're not getting deluged
by the periodic tropical wave. At any rate, it's really good to see
migrants coming back through on the usual earlier timetables. Bodes well
for the rest of the season, eh?
Cheers,
Patty
August 17, 2006:
Dane's report:
Broad-winged Hawks : 291
Red-tailed Hawk : 1
Swainson's Hawks : 8
Mississippi Kites : 70
Swallow-tailed Kites : 21
Peregrine Falcons : 4
Sharp-shinned Hawk : 1
Total : 396
a flight of 9 Swallow-tailed Kites spotted by Bob Creglow at
approximately 4pm ( Texas time ) flew over us low enough to age all 9
Birds ( 1 immie , 8 adults ) ... one of the adults flew directly over us
- no more than 30 yards up ... awesome , simply awesome ...
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Thanks, Dane!! Best bring your cameras to the watch; the photo ops just
keep getting better every day! I just never get tired of seeing those
swallow-tailed kite reports. Yeah, yeah, I know, "what, again?!" Hey,
you think we're getting them, check out Smith Point's watch reports;
they really rake them over the count - they're literally down the road
from their Texas breeding grounds. Makes for fun counts, for sure. It's
a wonderful thing to see, besides, with all the worries about their
populations getting smaller. Gives us great hope the US pops will
continue to grow.
Cheers,
Patty
August 18, 2006:
Joel's report:
Today was the fourth excellent day in a row to open this season's watch,
and the weather wasn't bad either!!!! Yes, we had kites today. In fact
we have broken our all-time record for Swallow-tailed Kites in a single
season with another eleven today. The previous record was 57 and we are
at 62 already!!!!!
Today's totals:
Broad-winged Hawk 22
Swainson's Hawk 8
Mississippi Kite 507
Swallow-tailed Kite 11
Cooper's Hawk 3
Unidentified Accipiter 1
Total- 552
Almost all the raptors today came between noon and 4:00 PM. Dickie birds
for the day included a Yellow and Green-throated Warbler, Bobwhite, over
1,000 Anhingas, and a wave (20 to 30) of Ruby-throated Hummingbirds.
August 19, 2006:
Libby's report:
Another good day on the hill...
BW 1
SW 4
MK 147
SK 1
SS 1
Total 154
First day we had a short shut down for rain. Only lasted 45 minutes and
then the Missies came through almost before the skies cleared and
brought our one Swallow-tail Kite with them - around 1:15.
August 20, 2006:
Libby's report:
Today was hot and steamy, gnats were the worst with no wind most of the
day - LOTS of fun!
Broadwing Hawks 144
Red Tail Hawks 1
Swainsons 3
Miss Kites 787
Swallow-tail Kites 5
Coopers Hawks 1
Peregrine Falcons 1
Unidentified raptors 8
Total 950
All but about 10 birds came through from 1:00 to 3:00 today. We saw two
immature Peregrines play bombing each other for the third time this
season.
Dickey birds have been added the last couple of days bringing our total
for the park to 89 in just 6 days. Highlights include Black and White
Warbler, Eastern Kingbird, Great-Crested Flycatcher, and our first White
Pelicans.
Come see us!
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Thanks, Libby! Hot is the order of the day around here these days. We're
dry, but not so dry as the hill country north and west of us, so I
imagine the park and its accompanying river looks pretty good as a
stopover to all those migrating species.
Cheers,
Patty
August 21, 2006:
Dane's report:
Mississippi Kites : 199
Broad-winged Hawks : 34
Swainson's Hawks : 7
Unidentified Raptors : 4
Swallow-tailed Kites : 2
Peregrine Falcon : 1
Total = 247
also : Blue Grosbeak , subadult White-tailed Hawk (resident).
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Thanks, Dane! A side note; Dane reports yesterday's red-tailed hawk was
a dark morph.
Continued hot weather, despite promises of scattered (very scattered)
showers is the forecast for the rest of the week, it appears.
Cheers,
Patty
August 22, 2006:
Libby's report:
Broad-winged Hawks 6
Swainson Hawks 5
Miss Kites 315
Peregrine Falcon 1
Prairie Falcon 1
Unidentified buteo 1
Total 329
No that is not a typo - one gorgeous Prairie Falcon came through fairly
low and slow right before 3:00 today. Made our first day without
Swallow-tailed Kites a little easier.
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Thanks, Libby! A prairie is a good hawk any day of the watch, and so
much nicer when they're a bit (!) earlier than expected. Gee, a day
without swallow-tailed kites; and here I was starting to get spoiled!
<laugh!>
Just a reminder; we have three organized fall watches in Texas, so if
you're near Corpus Christi, come see us. Smith Point is up and running
full steam over near Galveston, and Hornsby Bend's watch is enduring the
heat up near Austin. Down in the valley, they're more of a spring-heavy
area but someone's always watching for the rest of us down there in the
fall, too. Something for everyone, ya know? Many, many thanks to all the
volunteers and staff that work so hard on each of these watches - we
couldn't do it without ya!
Cheers,
Patty
August 23, 2006:
Dane's report:
Mississippi Kites : 4484
Broad-winged Hawks : 14
Swainson's Hawks : 11
Swallow-tailed Kite : 1
Sharp-shinned Hawk : 1
Short-tailed Hawk : 1
Total = 4512
Awesome day - Short-tailed Hawk seen twice ( approx. 10:30am and 3pm,
Texas time ) ... several large kettles of Mississippi Kites - one of
which also contained our lone Swallow-tailed Kite of the day ... we had
one cumulus cloud which had 4 simultaneous kettles of Mississippi Kites
... Hazel rocks ... Dane
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Dane, you've said it all right there. Hazel Bazemore is full of
surprises, every season, every day. The weather continues to hold hot
and true, and the Mississippi kite migration through Texas is into its
peak!
Cheers,
Patty
August 24, 2006:
Libby's report:
8-24-06
Broad-winged Hawks: 5
Swainson Hawks: 3
Mississippi Kites: 214
Unidentified Buteo: 1
Total: 223
Strong South and Southeast winds and rain to the north cut off any
flights after 2 today.
August 25, 2006:
Libby's report:
Swainson Hawks: 3
Mississippi Kites: 35
American Kestrel: 1
Peregrine Falcon: 1
Total: 40
Local Highlights - The two immature Peregrines cavorting again today,
White-tailed Hawks (2 adults, 1 sub-adult) great looks, Broad-winged
Hawk (immi) still hanging around, Red-Shouldered Hawk (Texana
subspecies) activity increasing, and one active Swainsons Hawk.
Expecting great things tomorrow....
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Thanks, Libby! TGIF, the weekend's here! Now we can all spend more time
on the hill!
Cheers,
Patty
August 26, 2006:
Libby's report:
Swainson's: 5
Turkey Vultures: 33
Miss Kites: 11
Cooper's Hawk: 1
Osprey: 1
Harris Hawk: 1
Unidentified Buteo: 1
Total: 53
First hour of the day was the best. The Turkey Vultures came streaming
in a group from the north and didn't even wobble from their straight
line south. Very un-vulture-like for this early in the season and
definitely migrating. Our first Osprey for the count came through around
noon. Beautiful shows by our two adult resident White-tailed Hawks
hunting together this morning. Makes up for not too many migrating
raptors.
August 27, 2006:
Libby's report:
SW: 5
Miss Kites: 10
Osprey: 1
Unidentified raptor: 1
Total: 17
Slowest day yet for the season - strong upper level south/southeast
winds have almost brought the raptors to a stand-still. But, you never
know what tomorrow will bring!
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Thanks, Libby! Yeah, it was slow, all right, in terms of raptor numbers,
but you know our watch site; there's always something to see.
Butterflies and passerines keep us hopping and dragonflies and swallows
are still working the hill's skies in good numbers, keeping the peskies
at bay. Our key indicators didn't disappoint. Anhingas popped in and
out; about 144 or so all told while Bill and I were on the hill, though
one kettle of 47 kept coming back and forth. Wood storks and white
pelicans also teased us throughout the day. While hot, the air temps
were a lot more tolerable today, with the southeast winds actually
cooling us for most of the watch. Buff-bellied hummingbirds landed in
the tree limbs above us, ruby-throated are all over the place. Bob hung
out a feeder on the bright clean new wooden sun canopy over the site's
picnic table. As weather around the upper Texas coast clears, and from
reports we're getting from northeast Texas, we expect some good flights
of kites and other raptors to pick back up again tomorrow! The
chocolate's in the cooler, so come on down this week and help the
counters spot up the hawks!
Cheers,
Patty
August 28, 2006:
Libby's report:
SW: 5
Total: 5
Es todo!
More coming, they just don't want to fight the strong winds from the
South.
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Thanks, Libby! The weather has definitely been a factor the past week.
However, this morning's radar shows the storm fronts are finally
breaking in central and northeast Texas this morning. A front is coming
through that forecasters believe will actually reach us to some small
degree. By tomorrow, the watch should be busy with hawks!!
Cheers,
Patty
August 29, 2006:
Libby's report:
What a difference a day makes. The raptors didn't have to fight the
strong headwind and so moved right overhead today:
Broad-winged hawk: 55
Red-tailed hawk: 2
Swainsons hawk: 8
Red-Shouldered hawk: 1
Mississippi Kite: 1917
Swallow-tailed Kite: 4
American Kestrel: 1
Peregrine Falcon: 2
Northern Harrier: 2
White-tailed Kite: 1
Unidentified Buteo: 4
Unidentified raptor: 1
Total: 1998
Our first Harriers and Red-Shouldered Hawk today helped out for our
first ten species day for this season - and somehow we didn't get any
accipiters through. I guess those guys will be here tomorrow. It just
gets better from here - come see us!
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Thanks, Libby! First off, let me apologize to everyone. In yesterday's
report, I forgot to transcribe the shorthand we use to record sightings.
Yesterday's SW designation was for Swainson's hawk. I'll try to remember
to print the expanded versions of each species from now on.
Now, then, on to the watch report. Now THAT's what I'm talking about!
The weather has cleared throughout central and eastern Texas today, and
with a front pushing its way and (hopefully) waves of backed-up birds in
its path, look for another good day Wednesday and likely into Thursday.
Fronts are definitely our friends in migration studies and with the
impending advent of one of the earliest fronts for the fall season about
to hit us, we're almost holding our collective breath in excitement!
Stay tuned, hit the hill and help us count these guys in!
Cheers,
Patty
August 30, 2006:
Libby's report:
Another great day on the hill -
Broad-winged hawk: 21
Red-tailed hawk: 3
Swainson's hawk: 6
Miss. kite: 1441
Swallow-tailed kite: 3
Sharp-shinned: 1
Cooper's hawk: 1
American kestrel: 2
Merlin: 1
Osprey: 3
Unidentified buteo: 4
Total: 1486
First Merlin today came through "bothering" our resident Red-Shouldered
Hawk. Our last 50 (or so) birds were counted from the group shelter at
the top of the hill - we went there to get away from the lightning
moving in. Forty-four Mississippi Kites came in very low, fighting to
get ahead of the rain and find a good tree for the night. We should have
a small lift-off tomorrow morn from those still in the air when the rain
hit.
Notes from yesterday: First large group of Wood-Storks lifted off and
passed over (91) and a Mourning Warbler was added to the dickie bird
list. Today were great flocks of Eastern Kingbirds and Baltimore
Orioles.
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Thanks, Libby! Amazing what a difference a little clear air makes.
<grin!>
Cheers,
Patty
August 31, 2006:
Dane's report:
Mississippi Kites - 42
Broad-winged Hawks - 30
Swainson's Hawks - 23
American Kestrels - 8
Northern Harriers - 4
Ospreys - 3
Swallow-tailed Kites - 2
Peregrine Falcon - 1
White-tailed Hawk - 1
Unidentified Buteo - 1
Unidentified Raptor - 1
Total - 116
Swallow-tailed Kites came in low enough to age (1 adult, 1 immie); had a
group of 400 Anhingas; nice action on Baltimore Orioles and Eastern
Kingbirds; a group of about 200 White Pelicans; and the non-Raptor
highlight of the day: 1 Magnificent Frigatebird - which we figured was
Hazel's birthday gift for Mr. Bob Creglow!
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Thanks, Dane! A great report! A frigatebird over the watch; that's a
thrill any day of the year!! How nice to coincide with Bob's birthday;
Bob is one of our hardest working volunteers and is always on site,
every day of the watch, providing invaluable eyes and cheery attitude to
everyone he meets! And now that Bob's got two good knees again, there's
going to be no catching him, <laugh!>!
Cheers,
Patty
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