Well, not too many pictures as there were no hawks for the day, my second
shutout of the season out of two days. The only resident hawk that showed
up was after 3pm when one of the summering ospreys appeared hovering over
the east motte. The wind was over 30 and the bird had difficulty hovering.
I thought I could hear it or the other calling but the wind made that too
hard.
http://www.pbase.com/joseph_kennedy_36/image/163868405
The osprey proceeded to break branches off of the nearest oak tree
http://www.pbase.com/joseph_kennedy_36/image/163868406
http://www.pbase.com/joseph_kennedy_36/image/163868407
And came back several times for more
http://www.pbase.com/joseph_kennedy_36/image/163868408
http://www.pbase.com/joseph_kennedy_36/image/163868409
Rather out of season performance by the bird
Two young of the year turkey vultures hopped up from the undergrowth and
perched in the dead trees of the east motte. One of them still had a white
collar or ruff like that of the condor
they flew but not far or long but ended up in the northwest motte with a
youngster that is a little older
http://www.pbase.com/joseph_kennedy_36/image/163868404
On two occasions, a black vulture chased the turkey vultures from their
perch
http://www.pbase.com/joseph_kennedy_36/image/163868402
After I got home I discovered that the black vultures had young from the
motte as well although they did not fly but they did perch lower down. One
still has a mainly white head.
http://www.pbase.com/joseph_kennedy_36/image/163868400
Several groups of frigatebirds headed off to the east in the morning and
were returning near the end of the count. It is hard to photograph the all
dark males against the overcast sky
http://www.pbase.com/joseph_kennedy_36/image/163868416
But the females show up a little better
http://www.pbase.com/joseph_kennedy_36/image/163868417
Of the normal migrants at the tower, there were no storks, white pelicans,
gnatcatchers, yellow warblers and only 3 white ibis that I counted. 1
orchard oriole in the am and 1 in the pm were probably local. There was a
hummingbird. Very few swallows but they are coastal migrants and the rain
of the last week in Louisiana sure puts a stop to that.
We did have a short sprinkle in the am for a bit and that energized the
upland sandpipers into moving. I counted 269 for the day for the most by
far ever with flocks of 63, 44, and 42. Some were in v-formation and others
in loose flocks with almost all far lower than I have seen. Usually you
hear noises from way up there and are lucky to get a glimpse of a speck
sometimes. There was some of that and they were not included in the count
as you could not tell if there was one or many.
Tricolored herons were moving, mainly over the bay and I had 33 for the
day, almost all in the am. 15 black terns headed out with the last birds of
the day a group of 6 fighting the wind. One solitary sandpiper came in and
stayed out on the beach out of sight but periodically started calling.
And the famous owl is still on the post off to the west of the tower.
The trip home was great as the closed interstates from Louisiana kept
traffic from that direction very limited. I counted trucks going my way and
had a total of 8 including those around and past downtown. So storms are
good for something. And it made a great end to the day.
--
Joseph C. Kennedy
on Buffalo Bayou in West Houston
Josephkennedy36@xxxxxxxxx
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