Hi Texbirders,
Last weekend (Sep 22 - 24), 9 members of this year's Travis Audubon raptor
identification class and 4 members of the Highland Lakes Birding and Wildflower
Society joined me in Corpus for raptor class long distance field trip.
Even though things didn't work out exactly as I expected, we still saw a lot of
raptors and other birds, and we had a great time.
I have appended a bird list to this report, which includes all 102 species that
I saw or heard over the weekend. Most of the group probably did not see quite
that many species, but I would guess that most participants saw close to 90
bird species, including 17 raptor species.
We started Friday afternoon, with a visit to Tule Lake for shorebirds and
waders, including up-close Least and Western Sandpipers, a Greater Yellowlegs,
and several cooperative Semipalmated Plovers, then headed over to Oso Bay for a
few more shorebirds, including Black-bellied Plovers, Marbled Godwits, Willets
and another Greater Yellowlegs. And 1 Wood Stork which was a lifer for some.
Saltwater Grill for seafood that was pretty darned good in a relatively quiet
environment.
Saturday morning, after Virginia made sure the Holiday Inn Express put
breakfast out for us before 7, we checked the sod farm, finding little of
interest there, then headed over to the watch platform at Hazel Bazemore Park.
With steady southeast winds, and no inclement weather to put down either
raptors or small birds, it was slower than I have ever seen it in late
September. We still had a great variety of raptors and a good variety of other
birds. We had low numbers of almost all raptor species, including a single
Swainson's Hawk and a single Broad-winged Hawk for the morning. But we did get
15 raptor species, including some good looks at Cooper's Hawks, a single
Sharp-shinned Hawk, and resident White-tailed Hawks. We also had several
Mississippi Kites and a single distant White-tailed Kite. Non-raptors also
entertained, with a flyover trio of Wood Storks, a big flock of migrating
Anhingas, 1 or more Green Jays, at least 3 oriole species, and a Groove-billed
Ani seen well by almost everyone. We left the platform about 12:30 for lunch at
Charros and a short nap in the motel.
Saturday afternoon about 3 p.m., nine of us headed toward the coast, stopping
first along the causeway near Snoopy's (our dinner site later) where we picked
up roosting Black Skimmers, several waders, and a single Sandwich Tern which
turned out to be the only one for the weekend. We then headed over to Mollie
Beattie shorebird habitat, which disappointed because birds were not very
close. So we headed over to Mustang Island and drove the beach for shorebirds
and terns. Highlights there for me were a large flock of 150 or more Least
Terns, 3 Red Knots, and at least 12 Piping Plovers, one of which was banded and
flagged. I was able to get photos with enough information to identify the
banded plover individually. A member of the research team reports that this
bird, labeled 7B0, "was banded as a chick August 2014 on the Missouri River
near Washburn, ND. It has returned every year since to Lake Sakakawea near New
Town, ND."
Dinner Saturday was seafood at Snoopy's, which was excellent, as usual. The
boiled shrimp were especially noteworthy! I got most of the group there shortly
before 5:30 p.m., which was good, because in very short order another 20 people
had lined up behind us.
Sunday morning, we checked Rose Hill Cemetery about 8:15 in the morning before
heading back to the hawk watch. Even though there had not been much inclement
weather to put small bird migrants down into migrant traps, I thought we should
at least give it a try. Rose Hill was pretty quiet, but Carol and Bonnie
finally found a small mixed species flock feeding near a blooming Anacua tree.
We finally added some warblers to our trip list, including several Yellow
Warblers, a single male Black-and-white Warbler and a young or female
Chestnut-sided Warbler. We also had an Eastern Wood-Pewee and an Empidonax
which I called a Least Flycatcher. And our only Lesser Goldfinch of the trip.
Then it was back to Hazel Bazemore. Things were still kinda quiet there, but we
did have several good looks at Peregrines soaring over the watch site. There
were more Swainson's Hawks on Sunday, but again only a single Broad-wing, this
one a distant dark-morph bird (which the counters refer to as a "chocolate
drop"). We also had even better looks at several adult and sub-adult
White-tailed Hawks flying close over the platform, and a few more distant
Mississippi Kites and Cooper's Hawks. And then a very close Zone-tailed Hawk
gave just about everyone good looks for our 16th raptor species of the trip.
Some of our group left for home around noon, but several of us stayed for the
Native American blessing at 1 p.m. and boy am I glad I did, because at 2:15
several people on the platform began gesticulating wildly and I heard shouts of
"Swallow-tailed Kite!" I was able to find and photograph the bird, and then get
most of the remaining group on this always spectacular migrant raptor. What a
way to end the trip!
With the front that moved through central Texas and then Corpus yesterday
(Thursday Sep 28), conditions might be ideal tomorrow and Sunday for viewing
large numbers of migrant raptors over Hazel Bazemore, with steady north winds
and lots of clouds but maybe not too much rain.
So we may have missed the big numbers last weekend, but we still tallied 17
species of raptors for the group, with great looks at some local or seasonal
rarities, including Zone-tailed Hawk and Swallow-tailed Kite. And we saw a lot
of other great birds, including waders, terns and shorebirds.
A cumulative bird list for the trip follows.
Bird list for the 2017 Travis Audubon Raptor Class September field trip to
Hazel Bazemore and Corpus Christi Sep 22 - Sep 24, 2017:
Blue-winged Teal - Fri - Oso Bay; Sat - HB
American White Pelican - Fri - TL, Oso Bay; Sat - HB
Brown Pelican - Fri - Oso Bay; Sat
Neotropic Cormorant - Fri & Sat
Double-crested Cormorant - 2 - Sun - HB (not seen by most)
Anhinga - Sat - HB, & Sun HB (3)
Great Blue Heron
Great Egret
Snowy Egret
Little Blue Heron
Tricolored Heron - Sat - HB pond, MB
Reddish Egret
Cattle Egret - 15 - Sat - MI - Doc only (from highway and unable to stop)
Green Heron - Sat - HB pond
White Ibis - Fri - TL; Sat - HB pond
Dark Ibis sp. - Fri (?)
Roseate Spoonbill - Fri - TL
Wood Stork - Fri - TL, and Sat - HB
Black Vulture - Sat - HB
Turkey Vulture - Fri & Sat
Osprey - Fri & Sat
Swallow-tailed Kite - 1 - Sun - HB - seen by most who stayed for Native
American blessing
White-tailed Kite - Sat - HB
Mississippi Kite - Sat & Sun - HB
Northern Harrier - 1 - Sat - HB
Sharp-shinned Hawk - Sat - HB
Cooper's Hawk - Sat - HB, & Sun - HB
Red-shouldered Hawk - Sat d& Sun - HB (small numbers)
Broad-winged Hawk - 1 - Sat - HB; 1 Sun HB (distant dark morph)
Swainson's Hawk - 1 - Sat - HB: about a dozen on Sun - HB
White-tailed Hawk - 2 - Sat - HB - 3 or more Sun - HB
Zone-tailed Hawk - 1 - Sun - HB - good looks at an adult fly-by
Red-tailed Hawk - 1 - distant bird not seen by most, Sat - HB
Crested Caracara - Sat - HB
American Kestrel - Sat - HB (doc only)
Peregrine Falcon - Sat - HB (distant), Sun - HB - great looks at several fly-bys
Black-bellied Plover - 2 Fri TAMU (Oso Bay); 4 - Sat - Snoopy's
Semipalmated Plover - Fri - TL
Piping Plover - 12 - Sat - MI - including one banded bird
Killdeer - Fri - TL; Sat - HB
Black-necked Stilt - Fri & Sat
American Avocet - 3 - Sat - HB
Solitary Sandpiper - 2 - Sat - HB - Doc only
Greater Yellowlegs - Fri - TL; Sat - HB, MI
Willet - Fri & Sat
Long-billed Curlew - 4 - Sat - HB (3) and MB (1)
Marbled Godwit - Fri - TAMU
Ruddy Turnstone - Sat - MI
Red Knot - 3 - Sat - MI
Sanderling - Sat - MI
Western Sandpiper - 2 - Fri - TL (1); Sat - MI (1)
Least Sandpiper - Fri - TL
Stilt Sandpiper - 1 - Sat - HB pond
Short-billed Dowitcher - Sat - causeway
Laughing Gull - Fri & Sat
Least Tern - 140 - Sat - MI
Forster's Tern - Sat - causeway
Royal Tern - 2 - Sat - MI
Sandwich Tern - 1 - Sat - causeway
Black Skimmer - Fri - TAMU; Sat - causeway
Rock Pigeon - Sat - causeway
Eurasian Collared-Dove - Fri - TL
White-winged Dove - Sat - HB
Inca Dove - 2 - Sat - HB
Groove-billed Ani - 1 - Sat - HB
Chimney Swift - Sat - HB
Buff-bellied Hummingbird - 1 - Sat - HB
Ruby-throated Hummingbird - Sat & Sun- HB
Belted Kingfisher - 1 - Sat & Sun- HB
Golden-fronted Woodpecker - 1 - Sun - RH - single bird, heard-only
Eastern Wood-Pewee - 1 - Sun - RH
Least Flycatcher - 1 - Sat - HB, & Sun - RH
Great Kiskadee - 1- Sat & Sun - HB
Couch's Kingbird - 3 - Sat - HB
Eastern Kingbird - Sat - HB
Scissor-tailed Flycatcher - 3 - Sat - HB
White-eyed Vireo - 1 or 2- Sat & Sun- HB
Green Jay - 1 - Sat & Sun- HB
Cliff Swallow - 1 - Sun - HB
Cave Swallow - Sat & Sun- HB
Barn Swallow - Fri & Sat - TL and HB
Black-crested Titmouse - 1 - Sat - HB
Carolina Wren - 1 - Sat & Sun - HB
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher - 2 - Sat - HB; 1 Sun - RH
Northern Mockingbird - Sat - HB; Sun - RH
Long-billed Thrasher - 1 - Sat - HB
European Starling - Sat - town
Yellow Warbler - 6 - Sun - RH
Chestnut-sided Warbler - 1 - Sun - RH
Black-and-white Warbler - 1 - Sun - RH
Olive Sparrow - 1 - Sat - HB (heard-only)
Northern Cardinal - Sat - HB
Red-winged Blackbird - Sat & Sun - HB - a flock of multiple hundreds
Common Grackle - 2 - Sat - HB (a local rarity)
Great-tailed Grackle - Fri & Sat - everywhere
Bronzed Cowbird - Fri & Sat - lots of places
Orchard Oriole - 1 - Sat - HB
Hooded Oriole - 2 - Sat - HB; 1 Sun - HB
Baltimore Oriole - Sat & Sun - HB
Lesser Goldfinch - 1 - Sun - RH
House Sparrow - 40 - Sat & Sun - HB
Good birding ya'll,
Doc Stone, Austin, Tx
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