[texbirds] Smith Point fish fry and hawk watch saturday

From: Joseph Kennedy <josephkennedy36@xxxxxxxxx>
To: 4 Texbirds Maillist <texbirds@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Mon, 1 Sep 2014 12:19:55 -0500
the good thing about the day was the fish and oyster fry. The oysters were
sweet, the fish crisp and the Shiner Cold. About as good as it gets. One
could say more but that would have required a long nap.
The lunch did let me see the hawk of the day, an osprey that headed to the
tower as I was getting in the car after eating. It was the only counted
bird for the day. I almost had a second bird later in the day when another
osprey came over and headed out over the bay. It paused when spotting a
mullet and was last seen as a fairly small dot heading toward Texas City.
However, 5 minutes later, it was back with a large mullet and set down in
the east motte to eat. So only 1 hawk for the day.

Not many birders came to the watch or fish fry. Perhaps due to the forecast
of 80% rain and clouds and thunder during most of the day. The stars were
out when I left Houston and hit a bit of rain heading southeast at
Wallisville but after that there was no rain on the way or tower as it
moved south and east. Even had blue sky around for a few hours. However,
the rain lined up to the east where hawks and land birds come from and
rained all the way toward Texas city over the bay off and on. Rain backed
up around 2pm ending the watch for the day.

Rain to the east cut off most land birds and I only counted 62 gnatcatchers
in several hours and a couple of yellow warblers and very few swallows.
Bank was the common swallow for the day.

However the wet and high tides did create good birding at Robbins Park and
vicinity. The oyster fry was also enjoyed by the oystercatchers feeding in
the shucked shells with counts of 24, 26 and finally 37 birds, most of
which were 2 year olds. There was changeover as banded birds were seen at
different times with 4 banded birds seen but only 3 where I could read the
bands.

YO is a resident bird in the park where I found him a year ago on the first
of August. He has not mated and is somewhat of a pariah among
oystercatchers. A Dickinson Bay bird born in 2011.

http://www.pbase.com/joseph_kennedy_36/image/157207309

W3 is another 2011 Dickinson Bay bird that showed up a year ago and was not
around in the summer

http://www.pbase.com/joseph_kennedy_36/image/157207312

And appears to be paired with an unbanded bird

http://www.pbase.com/joseph_kennedy_36/image/157207311

YM is a chick from West Galveston Bay from this years crop but happy to
feast on the piles of oysters rather than having to catch wild ones. Note
that most of the bill is dusky. It will turn all red after next year. If it
comes back next fall, it will still have a little dusky color on the base
of the bill

http://www.pbase.com/joseph_kennedy_36/image/157207310

The high tides brought some water to the marsh area at the park and was
enjoyed by a young of the year reddish egret

http://www.pbase.com/joseph_kennedy_36/image/157207307

http://www.pbase.com/joseph_kennedy_36/image/157207308

A young of the year green heron has been on this post for 3 weeks now

http://www.pbase.com/joseph_kennedy_36/image/157207305

The plover roost has lots of semipalmated plovers, black-bellied plovers,
and western willets as usual. The newly arrived black-bellied plovers stand
out from birds of a week or two ago that are in heavy molt

http://www.pbase.com/joseph_kennedy_36/image/157207304

Several times during the day there were large numbers of black terns
feeding high up on insects. Common nighthawks joined in a couple of times.
Seen at a distance against the clouds and glare it is surprising how
similar the two species are in silhouette and flight pattern. The wet had
nighthawks up on wires and posts near Robbins Park and I counted 32 from
one point. There were a few more on the ground so the area is nighthawk
heaven.

Right after sunrise, upland, spotted and solitary sandpipers and yellowlegs
were arriving over the park from the north and trinity bay. Most seemed to
veer to the east in the general direction of Anahuac. I checked some short
grass areas and fields cleared and being readied for rice next year but
found no shorebirds.

One can tell if the rain storms are coming toward the tower as the
frigatebirds generally move ahead of the rain. One or more were in sight
much of the day. They do provide a bit of adrenalin when way up high to the
north and they spread their tails like kites. Odd to see them in a group
with vultures.

An olive-sided flycatcher did use some of the tops of the dead motte trees
but numbers have been way down compared to the last couple of years. None
were around the fish fry where they are usually common but the peacocks
were out and showing off but have lost all of the long tail feathers but
still have some bedraggled stubs.

The weather patterns have cut off hawks from coming near the area to be
drifted blown down to smith point so at some point when it clears off in
Louisiana and points east there will be great rush of birds to come by. All
one has to do is be able to predict when that will happen.

-- 
Joseph C. Kennedy
on Buffalo Bayou in West Houston
Josephkennedy36@xxxxxxxxx


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[texbirds] Smith Point fish fry and hawk watch saturday

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