[texbirds] Re: Short-tailed Hawk over Hazel Bazemore...
- From: Sheridan Coffey <sngcanary@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: "daneferrell@xxxxxxxxxxx" <daneferrell@xxxxxxxxxxx>, this is new Texbirds <texbirds@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Tue, 11 Sep 2012 06:11:30 -0700 (PDT)
Dear Dane,
that is an excellent sighting. I am, as I am sure others are, very much looking
forward to the photos.
Sheridan Coffey
San Antonio, Tx
http://sngcanary1.blogspot.com/
www.flickr.com/sngcanary
________________________________
From: Dane Ferrell <daneferrell@xxxxxxxxxxx>
To: this is new Texbirds <texbirds@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Tuesday, September 11, 2012 7:28 AM
Subject: [texbirds] Short-tailed Hawk over Hazel Bazemore...
Towards the end of an amazing Hawkwatching day(around 5pm Central) at Hazel
Bazemore County Park yesterday(09/10), I found a light morph Short-tailed Hawk.
What first caught my eye was a Kite-like turn this Bird performed - a tight
180, which was done a total of 3 times. The Bird would turn - and I would
actually lose visual contact for an instant - only to have it reappear a second
later. I remember saying "how did he do that?". Of course I have no idea if
this Buteo was a he or she, but excuse me, I was pretty excited. The movements
struck me as Kite-like, but after the Bird started gliding toward us, it became
obvious that it was a Buteo. This Raptor flew South, almost directly overhead.
The Bird was quite high, so I will not say that I could age it
precisely(obviously I did not get a photograph). I will say the wings were a
bit robust for an adult, and I could detect no obvious molt, but the two-tone
look(flight feathers darker than underwing
coverts), was readily apparent. This Raptor was noticeably smaller than a
Swainson's Hawk. I could not detect the helmet, the throat was white, and the
body appeared unmarked. I also did not get any real detail on the tail, but
with a strong backlit look, the tail did appear fairly light overall.
Although I have been fortunate enough to have seen this Raptor in numerous
locales(Florida, Texas, Mexico, Panama), I will always be thrilled to watch
this truly amazing aerial acrobat perform.
Also: much earlier in the day, we had our first Zone-tailed Hawk of the 2012
count. This excellent adult Bird flew low over the Hawkwatch platform. I
followed this way-cool Bird in my binoculars as it flew west. Twenty seconds or
so later, I was doubly thrilled when a Merlin started diving on the Zone-tailed
Hawk.
I can safely say the Hazel does indeed rock...
I will update the Hawkwatch numbers in a very-soon-to-come post.
Dane Ferrell
Corpus Christi Hawkwatch at Hazel Bazemore County Park
Corpus Christi, TX
Other related posts:
