[texbirds] Glorious hawk day and some swans, nuthatches, couch's, flycatchers, barn swallow etc.

From: Joseph Kennedy <josephkennedy36@xxxxxxxxx>
To: 4 Texbirds Maillist <texbirds@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Thu, 24 Jan 2013 17:15:53 -0600
I spent the day in Chambers County at Anahuac and Smith point. The hawk
show was truly spectacular with great variety, plumages actions etc.
The day started foggy and not very birdy as you could not see much past the
roadside ditches. Then when it started to melt, the glare made it hard to
bird. Not much seen around shoveler pond and down to the bay.

The place to be at Anahuac is at the oyster bayou tract andor the boat
launch area just across the road. Its a show. There is a large goose roost
there and also the geese feed in the marsh just to the west. And the
predators gather. If the geese all go up, the eagle is there. One in the am
chased off all the geese for a while. The boat launch area is flooded and
great like several years ago when it had great flocks of birds.

In the afternoon, all the hawks were gathering. A darkish harlan's was
kiting over the road to the boat launch marsh for a couple of hours with
perching in between feeding sessions. A peregrine passed over several times
too as well as half a dozen real and krider's redtails. I was parked on the
main road next to the water watching the geese when a bald eagle flew in
and let the geese practice flying. Next came the immature swainson's hawk
which Mike Austin saw last week. It caught something and was swooped on by
4 immature caracara too lazy to catch their own food. Then lots of harriers
going by and more red-tails. And both vultures. Hawks walking and flying.
With a couple of thousand geese and ducks in the background and shorebirds
too.

Walked around the back of the car and a hawk flushed from right behind the
car. I think it was a light harlan's but I have never seen one before but
it was a hawk plumage I have never seen before if not a harlan's.

Leaving the refuge, I counted 15 redtails on the poles between the
buildings and 1985 with more in trees and flying.

Other birds of note included the immature whistling swans which are one of
the great spectacular sights of Texas. Two dingy specks way out there with
their head down in the stuff feeding and every few minutes a glimpse of a
swan neck. Sort of looking at a gull on the end of the quintana jetty from
the beach.

The Skillern tract had 3 vermilion flycatchers, one red, one reddish and 1
female. The least flycatcher was at the observation deck and a barn swallow
was overhead with the tree swallows. The golden-crowned kinglets were also
at the deck.

Smith point was a little slow although a harlan's hawk was out near the
spoonbill area. The northwest motte had nuthatches and lots of
white-crowned sparrows singing. A single couch's kingbird was on the right
among the piled up trees just after you turn into Candy before you pass the
reddish oil tank that is on the left side of the road. Nuthatches in town
too.

And when you stop to sign in, the bronzed cowbirds are sitting in the tree
over the fence.

The show is a great reason to call in sick tomorrow and spend the day in a
deck chair along the road. The geese are the magnet for all the other birds
looking for injured or sick geese for lunch. The regular hunting season
ends this weekend but the special goose season continues so there will be a
good number of good days in the area.

-- 
Joseph C. Kennedy
on Buffalo Bayou in West Houston
Josephkennedy36@xxxxxxxxx


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[texbirds] Glorious hawk day and some swans, nuthatches, couch's, flycatchers, barn swallow etc.

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