[texbirds] Fw: Best Winter (and spring) Hawk-watching in Texas?

From: "Alan Wormington" <wormington@xxxxxxxx>
To: texbirds@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Date: Thu, 13 Mar 2014 17:17:01 GMT
I have always found the far-northern Panhandle to be excellent for wintering 
raptors ... lots of Ferruginous, Red-tails in every colour and type, Golden 
Eagles, a few Prairie Falcons and "Prairie" Merlins, and good numbers of 
Rough-legged Hawks.  Usually a Northern Shrike or two as well!

Alan Wormington
Leamington, Ontario

"Birding is getting goofier and goofier by the day!"


---------- Forwarded Message ----------
From: drbirdie@xxxxxxx
To: texbirds@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [texbirds] Best Winter (and spring) Hawk-watching in Texas?
Date: Thu, 13 Mar 2014 12:59:37 -0400 (EDT)

Hi Texbirders,
This winter has been a pretty good season for variety and abundance of diurnal 
raptors in Williamson County between Georgetown and the area north of Granger 
Lake. We have had multiple varieties of Red-tails, including a juvie Krider's, 
at least 2 dark-morph Harlan's and a light-morph Harlan's photographed once out 
near CR 352. There was also a juvie Ferruginous Hawk that persisted for over a 
month, and an adult Ferrugie photographed in November in Milam County just a 
few miles away. Not many accipiters, but that is often the case in these parts 
in winter. It has been so good, in fact, that it has been hard for me to want 
to go elsewhere for hawk-watching, but I did get down to Matagorda and Wharton 
Counties last weekend and saw quite a few White-tailed Hawks, a White-tailed 
Kite and more Bald Eagles in Wharton County than I think I have ever seen in a 
day in Texas.

It got me to wondering, though, whether some of the rest of you might have 
thoughts about particularly good places in Texas to observe and / or photograph 
winter raptors. I know the lower RGV can be very good in winter, and the 
trans-Pecos is especially good for Prairie Falcons and a good mix of buteos. 
The panhandle and south Plains probably offer the best bet for Rough-legged 
Hawks and may be about as good as the trans-Pecos for Prairie Falcons. I have 
the impression that the DFW area can be good for accips, and I seem to have 
heard something about a huge winter roost of Harriers on the UTC earlier in the 
year. I wondered, though, whether any of you have nominations or simply 
favorite locations for winter hawk-watching in Texas, even if the locale is 
mainly good for a few target species.


I would be interested in hearing your thoughts on this, and if you are willing 
to post the info publicly, I'm sure that others would be interested, too.


While we are at it, I wondered if any of you have thoughts about particularly 
good locations for photographing migrant raptors in the spring. I know that 
Hazel Bazemore can offer good numbers in the spring, although not necessarily 
close views. Smith Point can be excellent in the fall for good views of a 
variety of raptors, but I'm not so sure that is true in the spring.


In any event, I'd be interested to hear your nominations for "Best" or simply 
"Favorite" hawk-watching spots in Texas in winter and spring.


Thanks and good birding,
Byron Stone, Austin

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[texbirds] Fw: Best Winter (and spring) Hawk-watching in Texas?

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