I did a "Hawk Watch" at the house near Victoria yesterday afternoon and one
this morning at our ranch south of Victoria off of Hwy. 77
I thought of getting on the roof at my house for a better view but there was
not large movements. Thus, I chose a "zero balance" chair in the shade. There
were new birds about every 5 minutes but in small groups.
Dora Ann and I tallied from 10:30 - 16:00 after the heavy clouds broke up
30 Am. White Pelican
163 Black Vulture
17 Turkey Vulture
2 Red-shouldered Hawk (local)
11 Broad-winged Hawk
10 Swainson's Hawk
2 Red-tailed Hawk
2 Crested Caracara
Our ranch has a hill top with a view of the Guadalupe River bottom south of
Victoria. At times Broad-wings roost in this area by the thousands.
With a NE wind at about 10 mph raptors did not wait for thermals. They left
the roost at about 10 a.m. and did not bunch in kettles. They flew in small
groups of 1-10 across a broad front with the wind at their back. We tallied
birds from 8:20 until we stopped seeing new raptors at about 10:30.
Dora Ann and I counted:
35 Chimney Swift
1 Anhinga
575 Am. White Pelican (6 flocks)
274 Black Vulture (most were not local)
84 Turkey Vulture
1 Osprey
4 Crested Caracara (probably local)
2 Am. Kestrel
It was fun. Nice temps and great to be outside.
Brent Ortego
near Victoria
________________________________
From: texbirds-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx <texbirds-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> on behalf
of Chuck Sexton <gcwarbler@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Wednesday, October 10, 2018 7:56 PM
To: TexBirds Posting
Subject: [texbirds] Summary of my Austin hawkwatch
TexBirders,
I spent about 4 hrs 45 min on my roof in NW Austin between 10 a.m. and 5 p.m.
I had a moderate movement of hawks; fewer than I expected but I understand
others (e.g. Justin B.) had many more in a different location over Austin.
Such are the vagueries of hawk migration. The N winds were lighter today than
I had expected after such a front. I still suspect some major Swainson’s
movement occurred west of Austin, but tomorrow is forecast to have light E
winds and there may still be some raptor movement yet to come.
Here are my totals for today (migrants only, not including local birds).
Turkey Vulture - 87
Black Vulture - 5
Broad-winged Hawk - 5
Swainson’s Hawk - 379, including at least 4 dark phase
Red-tailed Hawk - 4+
Cooper’s Hawk - 1
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 1
Unid. Accip. - 3
American Kestrel - 3
Unid. raptors - 6
Also migrating:
Double-crested Cormorant - 6
Amer. White Pelican - 60
Anhinga - 1 (new for my yard list)
Chuck Sexton
Austin, TXEdit your Freelists account settings for TEXBIRDS at
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