[texbirds] Re: GCBO Smith Point HW, 13 Nov
- From: Joseph Kennedy <josephkennedy36@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: greatgrayowl@xxxxxxx
- Date: Wed, 14 Nov 2012 15:02:48 -0600
Not a lot to add to the report from yesterday but going down 561 through
the cold sink, it was 36 degrees which says that it is winter or close to
it. A short ways north of the turn off to double bayou, an osprey was
asleep in a tall dead tree against the just getting light sky. Maybe the
bird that passed the tower later in the morning.
The stretch of road for 2-3 miles north of the Whitehead place had lots of
red-tailed hawks which were starting to move around including a very antsy
spectacular krider's hawk that used several poles before moving to a nearby
tree to hunt. This bird also made it to the tower with a spectacular show
there.
An early trip out to the park had lots of scavengers on the shell piles but
no oystercatchers which have been missing for a week or so. A few hawks
were still heading across the bay in the area at sunrise. A few robins were
out there too.
I stopped at the sewage ponds which had very cold tree swallows huddled
tightly together on the wires along with a few rough-winged swallows
including one with a bad fungus day. A single barn swallow flew by the
tower which was my latest migrant other than birds further down the coast
or in the valley.
A trip out to the northwest motte had a flock of palm warblers that headed
out to the point along with a few hermit thrushes, a pine warbler and many
yellow-rumps. Only one red-breasted nuthatch tooted. Goldfinches and a
couple of siskins were overhead and some goldfinches stopped to feed in the
sunflowers next to the tower parking lot.
For the first part of the morning, it seemed that the migration was over
with only a couple of hawks going by while I was in the motte and a couple
at the tower. Not even local vultures but as it warmed, vultures started to
gather in small number and more hawks appeared. Some old friends were still
around. A northern harrier carried a rat past the tower and ate on it in
the grass out a short ways. And an eagle of course makes the day.
A bright pine warbler stopped on one of the pilings for the tower for a
good while and only left after we stopped watching it in order to look at a
hawk. And the black-chinned hummingbird stopped by a few times. And lots of
geese, an anhinga, cranes and pelicans kept up the big white bird migration
stream joined by tree swallows.
Good hawk winds are predicted for the next several days and are said to
last beyond the end of the count.
On Tue, Nov 13, 2012 at 7:10 PM, Tony Leukering <greatgrayowl@xxxxxxx>wrote:
--
Joseph C. Kennedy
on Buffalo Bayou in West Houston
Josephkennedy36@xxxxxxxxx
Edit your Freelists account settings for TEXBIRDS at
//www.freelists.org/list/texbirds
Reposting of traffic from TEXBIRDS is prohibited without seeking permission
from the List Owner
Other related posts:
