[texbirds] GCBO Smith Point HW, 21 Oct

From: Tony Leukering <greatgrayowl@xxxxxxx>
To: texbirds@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Date: Sun, 21 Oct 2012 19:00:52 -0400 (EDT)
Hi all:

A very late start to the "flight" and slim pickings for that flight, would have 
made for a very slow day for me, but for the visitors present, including David 
S. -- lucky him!  Not only did I not see a countable raptor in the first hour 
(8-9 am), I didn't see a raptor in the first hour.  There was little in the way 
of movement of big, white birds; big, dark birds; or, really, birds.  Other 
than Turkey Vulture, Northern Harrier was the most numerous raptor and 
accounted for both the first and last raptors counted for the day.  Eastern 
Meadowlarks continue daily in numbers now, but nary a B-g Gnat was detected 
today.  A couple of Crested Caracaras came calling this afternoon, with one 
heading SW across East Bay.  It got about out to the point at which the Golden 
Eagle turned around on Friday and, what a surprise, turned around.

Bird of the Day:  For quite a while today, I didn't know if there would BE a 
BOD, but all of that changed a bit after 2 pm when I noticed through my 
binocular an oddly-shaped raptor WAAAAAY out front with the very distant Turkey 
Vulture kettle.  Through the bin, it looked like it sported a modified dihedral 
and it looked very pale.  So, I got up and looked at it with my scope and, lo 
and behold, it had a mostly and very bright white tail and large white wing 
panels and was, essentially, white underneath.  I mentioned to David Sarzoki, 
the last visitor standing, that I had a possible Ferrug.  Despite the great 
distance, when David got on the bird with my scope, he agreed that it had a 
white tail and large white wing panels and what else could it be.  Since 
Ferruginous Hawk is not at all regular here, I wanted to be certain that it 
wasn't a juv Krider's Red-tailed Hawk, though the wing shape (long, fairly 
pointed, no apparent secondary bulge) really ruled out that option.  It 
eventually worked its way closer -- but still nothing at all like close, where 
I got, at least, identifiable pix of the bird, one of which I've posted 
(http://www.flickr.com/photos/tony_leukering/8110402037/in/photostream).  The 
image occupies a very tiny portion of the original frame.  In fact, it measures 
out at about 48 pixels in height.  I repeat, the beast was not close, so you 
get what you get.  The bird was still visible hunting out over the point (it 
looked like it should have been over Texaco Road) at least until David left 
around 3:33 pm.  When I left the tower (at 4:03 pm), I drove the length of 
Texaco and Hawkins Camp roads without finding it.  I would bet that it's still 
around and will be around in the morning, but I wouldn't put my life savings on 
it, nor even the little that is in my pocket.  But, I do think that there's a 
good chance that it'll stick through to tomorrow morning.  Unless it doesn't.

Raptors counted (count conducted by Gulf Coast Bird Observatory):

Turkey Vulture 35
Northern Harrier 13 (2 ad m, 4 brown, 7 juv)
Sharp-shinned Hawk 4
Cooper's Hawk 6
Broad-winged Hawk 1 juv
Swainson's Hawk 4 light juvs
Ferruginous Hawk 1
American Kestrel 7 (1m, 5f, 1u)
Total 71

In addition to the Ferrug pic, I've posted a pile of pix from the tower of 
Northern Rough-winged Swallow and eight pix of various Franklin's Gull flocks 
from yesterday (start here 
http://www.flickr.com/photos/tony_leukering/8110397169/in/photostream/  and go 
left in the stream).

Tad Finnell will be conducting the count tomorrow, so if you're out and about, 
drop by and say, "hi."

Later,

Tony


Tony Leukering
Villas, NJ
http://copyeditinggonebad.blogspot.com/
http://capemaymoths.blogspot.com/
http://cfobirds.blogspot.com/
http://aba.org/photoquiz/
[texbirds] GCBO Smith Point HW, 21 Oct

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