[texbirds] Re: GCBO Smith Point hawk count, 13 November
- From: Tony leukering <greatgrayowl@xxxxxxx>
- To: "texbirds@xxxxxxxxxxxxx" <texbirds@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Wed, 13 Nov 2013 19:29:37 -0600
Stupid, STUPID phone!!
>
> Stupid phone!
>
>> Hi all:
>>
>> Another good November cold front without the usual good buteo hit. No
>> variety of colors of Red-taileds, no White-taileds, not even a
>> Red-shouldered. Ah, well, I ain't gonna see it this year.
>
> While there were buteos, they were mostly not your mother's usual November
> buteos. No, 26 of the 30 countable buteos today were Broad-winged Hawks!
> There were no dark ones, however.
Turkey Vulture ruled the day, with two kettles that this year would be
considered large (49, 81), but in most Novembers on a cold-front day would be
considered starter kettles.
Raptors counted:
Black Vulture - 3
Turkey Vulture - 130
White-tailed Kite - 1 (buzzed the tower!)
Northern Harrier - 8
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 8 (adults)
Cooper's Hawk - 11 (8 adults, 3 juveniles)
Bald Eagle - 1 (juvenile)
Broad-winged Hawk - 26 (1 adult, 25 juveniles)
Swainson's Hawk - 3 (juveniles)
Red-tailed Hawk - 1 (juvenile)
Peregrine Falcon - 1 (juvenile)
Total - 190
No, raptors were certainly not the stars of the show today. That honor was
grabbed by waterbirds, with Snow Geese (1654 in 33 flocks) leading the way,
numerically, if not quite temporally. A single Canada Goose honked at Ron
Weeks and me shortly after our independent arrivals at 6:30; it flew low right
past the tower, affording some reasonable pix in the low-light conditions.
Ducks flew well in the first couple of hours of the day, with Lesser Scaup (11
flocks, 182 birds) leading in abundance, but Red-breasted Merganser (16, 60)
had the most flocks. One of the scaup flocks harbored a female Redhead, while
another consorted with the local FOS Bufflehead (adult male), which was one of
four today. Ron found two Horned Grebes on East Bay, while I found a small
grebe flying that may well have been an Eared, but the sun glare precluded
definitiveness. Of the large, non-geese migrant waterbirds, a single American
White Pelican late in the day was the only such recorded; no ibis, no storks,
no cranes, nor Anhinga (yup, not a single hinga). Finally among waterbirds,
Ring-billed Gulls staged the largest flight that I've ever seen at the tower,
flying all day, with a minimal total (I had other things to watch/count) of 118.
Landbirds also put on a good show, though blackbirds were virtually absent.
What is it about the day after cold-front passage here that keeps the
blackbirds from flying? Everywhere else, they revel in such conditions. Ron
picked a loose flock of five distant passerines that I ID'ed as the local FOS
American Robins. At least one of the three goldfinches in one of the four
small flocks of goldfinches looked short-tailed (a la Lesser), but views did
not permit ID; probably Americans, but.... Surprisingly, I heard Eastern
Bluebird just once today, versus yesterday's plethora. Sparrows were
well-represented (though not as well as yesterday), with two Fields (1
full-tailed, 1 sans tail), 1 each Chipping and Vesper, and Song, Savannah,
Lincoln's, White-throated, and White-crowned. The best sparrow, though, was
the male Spotted Towhee that Ron found at the E boundary of the WMA this
afternoon. Nicely for me, my trailer is on the W boundary of the adjacent
property and it took me just 30 seconds of pishing upon my return home to pop
that cutie up!
Two late Cliff Swallows flew past the tower in what today was mostly a Tree
Swallow show, though I did tally three of Barn and four of Cave. A sunning
Ruby-crowned Kinglet early actually showed me that it was a male; it helped
that it was perched well below me. Finally, The Bird of the Day was the
calling, perching, and flying American Crow! 'Twas only the second time that
I've seen the species at Smith Point, first this year.
Just two days remain to the 2013 Smith Point hawk-count season, so you're going
to have to play hooky if you're going to make it here again (or for the first
time) this year.
Enjoy,
>>
>> Tony Leukering
>> Smith Point, TX
>> http://smithpointhawkwatch.wordpress.com/
>> http://www.flickr.com/photos/tony_leukering/
>> http://www.aba.org/photoquiz/
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