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Come Join Us For Our Eleventh Annual CELEBRATION OF FLIGHT At the Corpus Christi Hawk Watch In Hazel Bazemore Park September 25 to 28, 2008
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Hawk migration is a true spectacle of the natural world and the watch at Hazel Bazemore Park is the largest and most diverse in the country. An average of 730,000 raptors are counted each fall. Although the hawk watch runs from August 1 to November 15, the four days of the "Celebration" are set during the peak of hawk migration. The "peak" is an eight-day period from Sept. 23 to 30 where single days of over one hundred thousand raptors have occurred each year.
This year we are pleased to announce the return of the Texas State Aquarium to provide educational programs. Their Education and Wildlife Rehabilitation Program has long worked with injured birds to return them to the wild if possible. These birds are a part of their mission: to inspire appreciation and wise stewardship.
Joel Simon, HawkWatch International (HWI) site coordinator from 1999 to 2007, will give two different programs. The first program will highlight the hawks of Hazel with a discussion of the many species of raptors seen in the park. His second program will discuss the wonders of hawk migration.
All
events will be held at Hazel Bazemore Park and are open to the
public free of charge, thanks to the support of
Swarovski Optik.
Volunteers will be on hand to show and identify hawks for visitors.
But mostly come and experience the true stars, migrating raptors, in
a celebration of flight. |
| Schedule of Events |
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| Texas State Aquarium- 9:00 AM to noon-
Thursday through Saturday. Get up close and personal to several species of birds that the Aquarium rehabilitated, yet are unable to return to the wild and learn about raptors. Mini-Programs by Joel Simon- These twenty minute programs will be held each day during lulls and of course will stop for any large flyover. One program will be on the hawks of Hazel and the other on hawk migration Morning Bird Walks- join hawk watch volunteers for a bird walk
Thursday thru Saturday at 7:30 AM for an hour of discovering the
many birds of Hazel Blessing of the Site- Sunday at 11:00 AM |
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Directions to Hazel Bazemore Park |
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The park is located in the northwest corner of Corpus Christi in the community of Calallen. Highways 37 and 77 intersect and run together for a short distance, the first exit south on Hwy 77, less than one half mile south of this intersection, is FM 624 (Northwest Blvd.). Go west on 624 for .7 mile and take a right on County Road 69 to the entrance of the park and just follow the signs to the site. Click here for a PDF of map and directions (click here for Adobe's free Acrobat Reader program).
When to Come
The peak of migration occurs between September 23 to 30 and there are usually two to three days of counts exceeding 100,000! That's a lot of hawks…but…it is impossible to pin it down any closer. Kites peak in August, Broad-winged Hawks in late September, falcons, accipiters, and Swainson's Hawks in early October, and vultures and Red-tailed Hawks in late October and November.
Where to Stay
There are many places to stay in Corpus Christi and the fine folks at the Convention and Visitors Bureau (1-800-678-6232) can provide you with all the details.
For further information on "A Celebration of Flight", contact Joel Simon at jsimon@uschoice.net.
Our Mission
The mission of HWI is to conserve our
environment through education, long-term monitoring, and scientific research
on raptors as indicators of ecosystem health. HWI was founded as a
non-profit, tax-exempt 501 (c) (3) organization in 1986. Our staff, along
with many volunteers, man the watch daily to count raptors by species and
collect other important data. We also have an active outreach education
program with local schools. Your donations and membership in HWI will help
us continue to do this important work.
Eyes To The Skies!
The Corpus Christi Hawk Watch at Hazel Bazemore Park is a HawkWatch International (HWI) site. HWI is the only group that conducts full season counts in Texas and deserves our full support, so please think about becoming a member. Funding for our full-season raptor migration project is provided by the Houston Endowment, Magnolia Charitable Trust, Audubon Outdoor Club of Corpus Christi, Northwest Business Association, Flint Hills Resources and the members of HWI; we greatly appreciate all of their support. The watch would not be possible without the many wonderful volunteers that help man the site all season.
A special thanks to the Nueces County Parks and Recreation Department and their staff at Hazel Bazemore Park for providing such a magnificent place to watch hawks and for funding our new state of the art platform. The event sponsor for "A Celebration of Flight" is Swarovski Optik …. come try out their binoculars and scopes!
