Smith Point Hawk Watch 8/20/20 (426 raptors)

Bob reports 426 migrating raptors today. Mississippi Kite 406 Broad-winged Hawk 10 Swainson’s Hawk 10 Mostly southeast winds but with a mild shift to the north for an hour and a half some birds showed up! John Whittle helped out today.

Smith Point Hawk Watch 8/19/20 (736 raptors)

Bob reports 736 migrating raptors today. Swallow-tailed Kite 15 Mississippi Kite 605 Cooper’s Hawk 2 Broad-winged Hawk 106 Swainson’s Hawk 8 Mostly north winds brought some birds! Sara Harrison and Linda Hoffman helped out today.

Smith Point Hawk Watch 8/18/20 (1584 raptors)

Bob reports 1584 migrating raptors today. Swallow-tailed Kite 19 Mississippi Kite 1471 Cooper’s Hawk 8 White-tailed Hawk 1 subadult Broad-winged Hawk 60 Swainson’s Hawk 24 Peregrine Falcon 1 Marvin Masters helped out today. Abundant swallows, mostly cliff and gobs of dragonflies.

Smith Point Hawk Watch 8/17/20 (102 raptors)

Bob reports 102 raptors today. Osprey 1 Swallow-tailed Kite 6 Mississippi Kite 23 Cooper’s Hawk 3 Broad-winged Hawk 47 Swainson’s Hawk 1 Red-tailed Hawk 1 Overcast skies that broke up midday. Early wind from the east that switched to the northwest. Jana Whittle and Linda Hoffman helped out today.

Smith Point Hawk Watch 8/16/20 (80 raptors)

Swallow-tailed Kite 19 Mississippi Kite 12 Cooper’s Hawk 6 Red-shouldered Hawk 1 Broad-winged Hawk 31 Swainson’s Hawk 10 Red-tailed Hawk 1 Sara Harrison helped out today. Thanks Sara!

Smith Point Hawk Watch 8/15/20 (12 raptors)

It’s time!!!! The hawk watch started today. Cooper’s Hawk 1 Broad-winged Hawk 7 Swainson’s Hawk 3 Mississippi Kite 1 The highlight of the day was a Pileated Woodpecker. Rare at Smith Point! Joe Kennedy, Sarah Harrison, and Dave Hanson helped out today. Thanks everyone!

Oystercatcher Diaries 2020: Week of July 13

By Susan Heath Alan, Taylor, Morgan and I headed out to West Galveston Bay last Wednesday for a last check of the oystercatchers. It was pretty calm so we headed towards Swan Lake. On the way out the Tiki Channel we found E0A & C2A the pair that tried nesting on a tiny island along the channel last year. They … Read More

Oystercatcher Diaries 2020: Week of July 6

By Susan Heath Well it is a covid world unfortunately. We were unable to go out last week because of a covid scare. All turned out negative however thank goodness so we were back in business this week. I went out to West Galveston Bay on Wednesday with Alan Wilde to check on the remaining chicks and see what the … Read More

Oystercatcher Diaries 2020: Week of June 22

By Susan Heath This week we had to move our survey to Tuesday morning because of rainstorms predicted Wednesday and Thursday and high wind on Friday. The hourly weather from The Weather Channel showed a nice window of time with low chances of rain on Tuesday morning but the local weather on the television showed rain. What to do? Well … Read More

Oystercatcher Diaries 2020: Week of June 15

By Susan Heath On my trip to West Galveston Bay this week I was joined by Alan Wilde, Maureen Wilde, and Lynn Wright all master naturalists and residents of Tiki Island that watch over the oystercatchers. We started in Jones Bay and found that W5 & JC were flying around FR’s territory. Uh oh. Good thing FR wasn’t there! But … Read More

Oystercatcher Diaries 2020: Week of June 8

By Susan Heath Taylor, Morgan, and I went out to Bastrop and Drum Bays to check and see if there was any action there early in the week. I had hoped to see JK’s chick again (W7W) but the whole family was gone. The tide was high and they were probably on the beach. The only oystercatchers we saw in … Read More