[texbirds] Smith Point hawk and swallow watch yesterday and a tagged turkey vulture
- From: Joseph Kennedy <josephkennedy36@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: 4 Texbirds Maillist <texbirds@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sun, 5 Oct 2014 13:50:49 -0500
I got down to Smith Point at dawn followed by a good north wind guaranteed
to bring in large numbers of hawks. In past years it would have resulted in
several thousand birds but in accordance with the pattern this year, there
were only a few with a clump of broad-wings and turkey vultures at hawk
getting up time and then mainly singles or very small groups. Best hour was
less than 100 birds.
However, swallow migration really picked up and by afternoon large numbers
of mainly rough-winged swallows were passing. There was more of a mix in
the am but by mid afternoon most of the birds were the rough-wings. Other
species were mixed in but I did not see any purple martins for the day for
the first time this fall.
The trees out front had several gnatcatchers, ruby-crowned kinglets,
yellow-breasted chat, Nashville warbler, catbird, thrasher etc. And
hummingbirds are still in numbers.
My first of the fall eastern phoebe was out Hawkins camp in the old barn
structure but I saw no friends. Lots of scissor-tails were seen from the
tower and later out Hawkins Camp.
I did a few shots of the only kettle of the day when they were high
overhead and found a couple of pictures of a tagged turkey vulture among
them. The tag appears to be zyx and I reported it to hawk mountain where
they run a vulture migration project but the contact is out of town.
If anyone has another contact, please let me know. Pictures are at
http://www.pbase.com/joseph_kennedy_36/image/157703856
http://www.pbase.com/joseph_kennedy_36/image/157703854
I added a picture of a broad-winged hawk from the group showing how white a
few birds can be
http://www.pbase.com/joseph_kennedy_36/image/157703851
A young osprey was perched at the Candy Abshier entrance when I drove in
and others fed out in front of the tower
http://www.pbase.com/joseph_kennedy_36/image/157703849
http://www.pbase.com/joseph_kennedy_36/image/157703845
Great day to be able to get out.
--
Joseph C. Kennedy
on Buffalo Bayou in West Houston
Josephkennedy36@xxxxxxxxx
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