[texbirds] GCBO Smith Point HW, 26 Sep

From: Tony Leukering <greatgrayowl@xxxxxxx>
To: texbirds@xxxxxxxxxxxxx, Sk8inginfo@xxxxxxx, coturnicops@xxxxxxxxx, bauersteven@xxxxxxxxxxx, mpeterson33@xxxxxxxxx, ellendunnking@xxxxxxxxx
Date: Wed, 26 Sep 2012 19:39:27 -0400 (EDT)

Hi all:

Another day of southerly wind -- southeast, today -- and another day with 
Sharp-shinned Hawks crossing the Bay into the headwind.  Most interestingly, as 
the wind was from roughly 130 degrees today, they were crossing East Bay to the 
SE, apparently willing to give up some westerly momentum just to get across the 
water!  How was the hawk flight along the coast, today?  I'd be most interested 
to hear.  Mississippi Kites, too, crossed the Bay, but they required a lot more 
cogitating on the matter, unlike the Sharpies, which generally came up and flew 
on out across.  Again, Cooper's Hawks did not consider the conditions conducive 
to onward migration and mostly stayed put, though I did see, like yesterday, 
one head across the Bay.

'Twas another day with very few landbirds, though marginally better than 
yesterday.  I mean, I more than tripled yesterday's Blue-gray Gnatcatcher count 
-- all the way to ELEVEN!  Woo-hoo!  No flycatchers of any stripe, not even a 
Scissor-tail.  The dragonfly show also seems to be on hiatus with these 
southerly winds; I saw probably <100 of 'em today.  The hummer show continues 
quite well at the tower's feeders.

Raptors counted:

Mississippi Kites 30 (all juvs)
Northern Harrier 17 (1 adult male, the rest juvs or unkown; yesterday's count 
was 18, not a bad two days for that species)
Sharp-shinned Hawk 258
Cooper's Hawk 20
Broad-winged Hawk 63
Red-tailed Hawk 1 adult (different from the adult that has been present a while 
still growing some secondaries)
American Kestrel 31
Peregrine Falcon 2 (1 adult, 1 unknown)

I also saw a Merlin late in the day chasing stuff around like a madman, as the 
species is wont to do.  Perhaps I'll get to count it tomorrow.

Bird of the Day:  There wasn't much of a competition, as I didn't want to use 
the Sharpie flight again, so I guess honors will go to the adult Swallow-tailed 
Kite that put in a brief appearance heading east in front of the tower at 4:23 
pm.  Since there was a largish flock of juvenile Mississippi Kites that balked 
at the water crossing late in the afternoon, I assume that I'll see both the 
STKI and the MIKIs in the morning.

Enjoy,

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, 26 Sep

Other related posts: