[texbirds] Smith Point Hawk Watch Saturday
- From: Joseph Kennedy <josephkennedy36@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: 4 Texbirds Maillist <texbirds@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sat, 20 Oct 2012 17:01:40 -0500
A great day at the hawk watch. Started out with the shorebirds at the shell
mounds right after sunrise. Found a banded american oystercatcher from the
GCBO project with a 7X band. It was shyer than the others present and left
when the oyster truck arrived. Other oystercatchers waited about 10 yards
away until the shells were dumped with a new meal for them.
Heading back in on Hawkins Camp, one sprague's pipit called and a few
scissor-tailed flycatchers were waking up. Stopped at the trees just past
the entrance to Candy Abshier and had 5 red-breasted nuthatches in 1 tree
and a small group of pine sisking zeeing by overhead. Did not hear any more
all day.
After a slow start at the tower, I walked the motte behind the gator pond
(3 nuthatches) and the northwest motte (12 + 3) nuthatches for a total of
23 red-breasted nuthatches for the day. A couple of American pipits called
while I was out in the grass.
Not a whole lot of land birds around other than the swallows. A few hummers
still at the feeder and a single female type rufous made a pass but did not
feed and was not seen again. A vermilion flycatcher stopped in treetops
near the tower before heading off northwest. One yellow-rumped warbler, a
couple of orange-crowned warblers and a palm warbler (Gau Road) made up my
short list. Many of the mourning doves present Thursday had moved on.
The first sandhill cranes of the season were way off there in the pm. Good
numbers of white pelicans, anhingas and geese going by plus a few wood
storks.
Bugs were good with lots of dragonflies at all levels. Most seemed to be
feeding and not moving. Monarchs were on the move and if they scent mark
well the numbers will increase as their migration peaks. Lots of gulf
frittalaries around including up on the tower.
Hawks increased with the day but went up high in the light winds but could
usually be seen. There was good variety and the first immature swainson's
hawks were perched and feeding near the tower and out hawkin's camp. In
past years these birds have stayed for a couple of weeks and become very
used to birders.
Red-tailed hawks are arriving. Early in the am 2 new birds had joined the
single bird out hawkin's camp. There were numbers at the tower but I did
not spend time checking them for distinctive marks until later in the day
so it was hard to tell how many were around and whether they were moving
through. Red-tails seem to be more afraid of crossing the water than many
of the other reluctant birds and tend to go back and forth, sometimes for a
couple of days, before disappearing. There could well have been as many as
10 birds around especially in the pm. One had large white wing panels and
was seen several times.
The best red-tail if not a harlan's was a dark bird that showed up in mid
afternoon. It was ambidextrous and caught a number of dragonflies which
were eaten in flight. It would catch a bug in each foot before eating them
and had no trouble finding dragonflies while over the tower. Really a neat
bird.
I was disappointed as the 12:30 hour went by without seeing the scheduled
bald eagle so waited for the 1:30 appearance of the golden eagle which also
did not appear. A while later I spotted a really far out bird to the east
and assumed that it was part of a stream of turkey vultures coming to the
tower and waited until it teetered proving the tv origin. Watched for over
5 minutes and it never varied from a semi-dive posture directly into the
wind and directly toward me. It finally got close enough and tilted up a a
little showing white wing triangles. It continued over the tower where it
circled a bit and headed out over the bay where it went a long way out
before coming back to the west and heading in the direction of Anahuac.
A couple of flocks of franklin's gulls and a close in magnificent
frigatebird added waterbirds to the hawks of the day. And a covey of
bobwhites had moved in close to the tower.
Again, a great place to sit and count birds and then do a little walking or
driving to add to the list.
--
Joseph C. Kennedy
on Buffalo Bayou in West Houston
Josephkennedy36@xxxxxxxxx
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