Hi all -
The official tally of migrating Turkey Vultures at Hazel Bazemore County Park
on October 27, 2015 was an amazing 83,994!!!! This single day count was
enough to eclipse EVERY previous SEASON TOTAL for Turkey Vultures at the Corpus
Christi Hawk Watch! The previous TV Season Record was 78,684 in 2013.
As in all record-breaking hawk tallies (500k Broadwings at Erie Metro and Hazel
Bazemore, 1500 Peregrines at FL Keys, etc.), unique large-scale weather systems
and optimum daily weather patterns made it happen.
The massive rain fronts that covered Texas from the 23rd to the 25th and then
moved east had the effect of stalling all migrating raptors for a few days.
Think of the marching band in Animal House going down the dead-end alley and
piling up at the brick wall. That is what happened with the vultures. They
were grounded for a few days, and it was getting COLD behind them - time to
boogie.
I was in Austin on Sunday, and when the rains finally stopped, the winds kept
blowing strongly from the N - NW. It was a cold wind, but at least we dried
off, and the velocity did not lessen throughout the day. Those winds were the
driver needed to push the migrating hawks and vultures down to the coast - a
key component to any hawk watch site, but especially Hazel Bazemore Park. In
the past decade, we have seen fewer and fewer periods of W and NW winds at
Hazel Bazemore, and the migrant hawk numbers have suffered because of it.
The birds simply are passing by the area on flight paths that are farther west
than the counters can see.
Not this time! In the few hours that I spent at the park on Monday, the
majority of the vultures AND hawks were being counted in the eastern skies -
just like the old days of the late 1990s and early 2000s. That meant the birds
were hitting the coast north of Corpus Christi, traveling down to encounter
Corpus Christi Bay, turning right (West) to skirt around the Bay (they hate
crossing open water), and then passing by Hazel Bazemore Park to the East and
Southeast.
Today's winds are supposed to be light and from more southerly directions, so
the Vulture Show is likely over.
Clay Taylor
TOS Life Member
Calallen (Corpus Christi) TX
Clay.taylor@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx<mailto:Clay.taylor@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
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