Joe Kennedy reports one migrating Mississippi Kite today. I guess the birds knew it was Bob’s day off. Other species seen included Turkey Vulture, Black Vulture, 5 Olive-sided Flycatcher, 2 Alder Flycatcher, 9 Black Tern, 7 Anhinga, 9 White Ibis, 3 hummingbirds, 25 Blue-gray Gnatcatcher. If anyone wants to be at the hawk watch every day and count gnatcatchers I … Read More
Smith Point Hawk Watch 8/23/21 (41 raptors)
Bob reports 41 migrating raptors today. Osprey 1 Mississippi Kite 20 Cooper’s Hawk 5 Broad-winged Hawk 12 Swainson’s Hawk 2 Peregrine Falcon 1 Four Black Terns and a Pileated Woodpecker was banging away on an old post. Also a gator in the bay! It stormed the last two hours, but there were good thermals prior to that.
Smith Point Hawk Watch 8/22/21 (8 raptors)
Bob reports 8 migrating raptors today. Cooper’s Hawk 1 Broad-winged Hawk 6 Swainson’s Hawk 1 A large kettle of frigatebirds and several Olive-sided Flycatchers accounted for the non-raptors.
Smith Point Hawk Watch 8/21/21 (23 raptors)
Bob reports 23 migrating raptors today. Swallow-tailed Kite 8 Mississippi Kite 3 Cooper’s Hawk 6 Broad-winged Hawk 1 Swainson’s Hawk 4 Peregrine Falcon 1 Joe Kennedy helped out today.
Smith Point Hawk Watch 8/20/21 (18 raptors)
Bob reports 18 migrating raptors today. Swallow-tailed Kite 11 Cooper’s Hawk 3 Broad-winged Hawk 3 Swainson’s Hawk 1 12 Frigatebirds and 6 spoonbills added some diversity to the day. Marvin Masters helped out today.
Smith Point Hawk Watch 8/19/21 (12 raptors)
Bob reports 12 migrating raptors today. Swallow-tailed Kite 12 Other birds include Least Tern, 3 Black Terns, and lots of Purple Martins. There were a few rain showers hanging around but 12 Swallow-tailed Kites isn’t bad!
Smith Point Hawk Watch 8/18/21 (7 raptors)
Bob reports 7 migrating raptors today. Swallow-tailed Kite 6 Swainson’s Hawk 1 Lots of rain showers in the area retarded the count but its nice to have so many Swallow-tailed Kites! Sarah Harrison and Linda Hoffman helped out today.
Smith Point Hawk Watch 8/17/21 (5 raptors)
Bob reports 5 migrating raptors today. Mississippi Kite 1 Sharp-shinned Hawk 1 Cooper’s Hawk 1 Broad-winged Hawk 2 Other birds included 3 Olive-sided Flycatchers. No visitor’s today. Bob is lonely y’all!
Smith Point Hawk Watch 8/15/21 & 8/16/21
Smith Point returns! The first day was great. 8/15/21 Swallow-tailed Kite 13 Mississippi Kite 13 Coopers Hawk 3 Red-shouldered Hawk 2 Broad-winged Hawk 26 Swainson’s Hawk 18 Red-tailed Hawk 3 Other birds of note: 12 white pelicans, 260 Anhinga, 31 Wood Storks, and 3 Magnificent Frigatebirds. Sarah Harrison and Marvin Masters helped out. 8/16/21 Swallow-tailed Kite 9 Mississippi Kite 17 … Read More
Oystercatcher Diaries 2021: Week of August 9, 2021
By Susan Heath This week the skies were clear on Thursday for our check of West Galveston Bay. Alan and I were accompanied by GCBO’s current RV hosts, Sonny Brannon and Peggy Hall. They have been a great help around GCBO so I wanted to show them a little bit about what happens out in the field on a research … Read More
Oystercatcher Diaries 2021: Week of August 2, 2021
By Susan Heath It’s always an adventure on the bay! On Wednesday, Alan and I had planned to go out and check on everybody, but on Tuesday the forecast looked not so good. By Wednesday morning the chance of rain in Galveston was down to 15% most of the day even though the radar looked like this. We decided to … Read More
Oystercatcher Diaries 2021: Week of July 26, 2021
By Susan Heath Well it was quite a day on Thursday. I headed out towards Galveston as usual and got about 6 miles from Hitchcock on FM 2004 and traffic came to an all stop. I could see flashing lights ahead but very few cars were turning around so I figured it was going to get cleared soon. After 30 … Read More