[texbirds] Great morning at Smith Point; great day on Bolivar Peninsula
- From: "Doc" <dmarc-noreply@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> (Redacted sender "drbirdie@xxxxxxx" for DMARC)
- To: "texbirds@xxxxxxxxxxxxx" <texbirds@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sat, 18 Oct 2014 19:40:13 -0500
Hi Texbirders,
Twenty-two members of the Travis Audubon Raptorology class joined me today for
a trip that included 4 hours on the observation tower at Smith Point followed
by stops at Robbins Park, then Anahuac NWR, and finally Rollover Pass.
Highlights of the 85 or so species we saw today included a fantastic liftoff of
several thousand Broadwinged Hawks, some quite low over the tower and including
at least 10 dark-morphs; a good flight of both sharpies and coops, some quite
low, a juvie White-tailed Hawk that fooled some of us initially with its pale
tail shining thru a bit pinkish in the morning backlight; several Chambers
County American Oystercatchers at Robbins Park; more Oystercatchers and a ton
of other shorebirds, gulls and terns in awesome late afternoon light on an
outgoing tide at Rollover Pass; a flock of 55+ Franklin's Gulls mixed in with
tons of Laughers, a few juvie Herring and at least one RB Gull at Rollover; the
Black Skimmers at Rollover; and a male and female Vermilion Flycatcher at the
visitor center at Anahuac NWR, plus both Whistling Ducks and 3 juvie Purple
Gallinules at Shoveler Pond.
We had great weather and great company.
Many thanks to Jason, the official counter at Smith Point, for enduring our
questions, misidentications, and other intrusions with patience, good humor and
helpful information.
With any luck, most of us will be back at the tower again tomorrow
morning for a little more of that Smith Point magic.
It was a good day to be a raptorologist.
Good birding ya'll,
Byron Stone, Austin
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