[texbirds] GCBO Smith Point HW, 4 Nov

From: Tony leukering <greatgrayowl@xxxxxxx>
To: Texbirds <texbirds@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>, Tamie Bulow <Sk8inginfo@xxxxxxx>
Date: Sun, 4 Nov 2012 17:30:55 -0600
Hi all:

'Twas a day of four parts.  I arrived to the eventually-annoying noise of 
courting Herring Gulls at the new 7 am and nearly calm conditions and mostly 
cloudy skies.  I counted no raptors in the first hour, but the duck show was 
good: eight species, including my tower-tick Redhead flying with one 
Ring-necked Duck and three Gadwalls.  Three flyover calling Common Grackles 
made for only my second record of that species from the tower.  I checked the 
White-crowneds in front and the sole adult was a Gambel's (photos)!

At 8:45 am, the wind suddenly picked up and shifted to the north, which 
immediately encouraged a few hawks to get up.  I counted one Sharpie before 9, 
then another Sharpie and a Harrier shortly after 9.  Of course, during this 
time, the western sky grew more and more ominous-looking.  Checking the radar, 
I saw some serious cells moving my way, so I started the closing-up-shop 
process in case it started raining.  About that time, visitors from Florida 
showed up.  The thunder that I'd been hearing became lightning and thunder and 
then it started to spit.  At 9:15, I walked hurriedly to my car, figuring that 
I finally had a chance to grab a real breakfast at the local restaurant 
(Aracelia).  I could just about taste those Huevos Rancheros as I was pulling 
up, only to remember that it was Sunday.  It's not open on Sunday.  Major 
bummer.

So, I sat out the 1.5-hour rain delay at home.  Dan Smith arrived from Austin 
during that time, and once it quit raining, we headed on over to the tower, 
with no real hopes of seeing much.

That's when Part IV of the day kicked in, and what a day!  Again, not all that 
many birds, but a very high quality quotient.  We even wound up staying an 
extra hour (to 4 pm) because stuff was still moving after 3.

-- Three flocks of Franklin's Gulls, two shortly before 4 pm, totaled 271 birds.

-- Flocks of 6 and 39 Sandhills

-- Three juvenile Magnificent Frigatebirds (two together)

-- The return of yesterday's juv Krider's Hawk

-- The (probable) return of the subadult Harris's Hawk

-- A White-tailed Kite

-- Single juv and 2nd-yr White-tailed Hawks

--  A male Pine Warbler (tower tick)

-- A Nashville Warbler

-- Three juv light Swainson's Hawks and the 

Bird of the Day:  At 1:39 pm, I looked up Eagle Alley to check out the forming 
kettle in that direction and started doing a little dance -- Bald Eagle #30 (a 
juv) for the season!

The next few days' forecast looks very promising, particularly Tuesday, but 
even tomorrow looks quite good!

Raptors counted (count conducted by Gulf Coast Bird Observatory):

Black Vulture 17
Turkey Vulture 62
Bald Eagle 1
White-tailed Kite 1
Northern Harrier 14 (2 ad f, 10 brown, 1 juv, 1 unknown-age male)
Sharp-shinned Hawk 12
Cooper's Hawk 17
Broad-winged Hawk 7 juvs
Swainson's Hawk 3
White-tailed Hawk 2
Red-tailed Hawk 5 juvs (including one that Marcy would call 'pretty' and one 
very light non-Krider's eastern juv)
American Kestrel 4
Peregrine Falcon 1 very distant and very dark juv
Total 142

See ya Mon or Tue on the tower!

Tony

Tony Leukering
Smith Point, TXEdit your Freelists account settings for TEXBIRDS at 
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[texbirds] GCBO Smith Point HW, 4 Nov

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