Yesterday I stopped by the Hawkwatch on my way home. It was just after 5 p.m. and a rain shower (I'll explain it later to the younger readers...) had just swept through so it was cool and most pleasant.
Bob Creglow and I chatted for a few minutes (he said the Calliope Hummer I wanted to see had probably hit the road already) and then the Hawkwatchers cleared out and I rested my elbows on the wet railings and tallied up some really good birds - 39 total for the park in the next hour!
Among the birds were Ruby-crowned Kinglet, my first of fall, White-tipped doves, Common Yellowthroat in a tree, many beautiful Northern Cardinals and Green Jays. An Osprey flew over the pond hunting supper and then a small dark raptor silently shot down into the woods and everything became eerily silent and still.
On the pond my first of fall Belted Kingfisher, with a wiggly minnow, and about a dozen Least Sandpipers, female Northern Shoveler herding some Blue-winged Teal (or so it appeared) and two Amer. Avocets snoozing.
Three Nutria were tooling around in the water, and a cottontail bunny thought he was invisible. A young male Vermilion Flycatcher was on the wire down near the river and when I was leaving and drove back by the Hawkwatch platform, two fat raccoons were gobbling down the corn and seeds as fast as they could. Very cute.
Judy KestnerCorpus Christi Edit your Freelists account settings for TEXBIRDS at //www.freelists.org/list/texbirds
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