Today (Sunday, October 2, 2016; about 11:40-11:55 AM) in Weslaco there was
a very large liftoff and kettling by at least 1000 Broad-winged Hawks and
possibly as many as 1500. Bill Supulski (a neighbor), my wife (Birgit), and
I (Rex) witnessed this exciting spectacle from our neighborhood in John
Knox retirement village (on Border Ave.). At about 11:40 AM today, Bill
came to our door to report that a large overflight of Broad-winged Hawks
had begun, presently was overhead, and that we must get out there quickly,
for the birds were moving fast! Birgit and I got out in time to witness
most of the spectacle, but the earliest contingent of Broad-wingeds already
was on the horizon, so we missed some of them. I had to dash back in on
account of having forgotten the camera in the excitement, but I did manage
photos of several kettles.
All three of us then continued to watch several large kettles move
overhead, and at some point, as the birds got higher, they tended to break
out of kettling and to fly southward in something close to a single-file
line. Presumably they were in a propitious current of air at that altitude.
We studied the horizon from which they were continuing to rise. It seemed
from where the birdsâ movement topped the buildings to the northeast that
they must have been lifting off from the general area of the Valley Nature
Center and, perhaps, also the adjacent Gibson Park (on Border Avenue). As
viewed from our perspective, the birds were lifting off north/northeast of
our location, heading briefly west, but then turning directly south and
overflying our location in kettle after kettle. Bill, who had seen the hawk
movement earlier than us, estimated by the end of the spectacle that there
might well have been 1500 Broad-winged Hawks. Even though we visually had
joined the event later than Bill, we estimated that the number we had seen
must have been 1000+ individuals of that species. A few Turkey Vultures
were seen at the periphery of the action or close by and at much the same
altitude. They looked, though, much bigger because they are bigger than
this rather small hawk species.
Birgit and I are very grateful to Bill for enabling us to witness this
deeply exciting migration event. It probably is not too late in the season
for a chance to encounter the spectacle of large-scale hawk migration, one
of the truly wondrous sights of nature. Encountering such an event of
course will depend on being at the right place at the right time. It may
not be easy to know just where one may find roosting hawks and observe them
taking to the air, but we at least know something of the weather conditions
and related timing that may tell us when to be alert for such an event.
Wishing everyone the best of late-fall migration, whatever birds may be on
oneâs wish list, and, wishing also that there might be some delightful
surprises. Birding in Texas certainly has been providing quite a few such
surprises of late. â Rex Stanford (Weslaco).
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