By Susan Heath On Wednesday I was joined by Alan Wilde, John Wright, and Stennie Meadours for my weekly tour of West Galveston Bay. Last week the pair near the boat ramp had a new nest and one of them is unbanded so I had hoped to use the box trap to remedy that situation. The nest is up on … Read More
Oystercatcher Diaries 2018: Field Week 5
By Susan Heath On Tuesday Robin and I headed up to Dickinson Bay in hopes of trapping and banding some of the birds at the Texas City Prairie Preserve (TCPP) sand/shell spit. Two of the volunteers that monitor those birds joined us – Paula Kennedy and Joey Barnes. It’s hard for them to tell what’s going on because so many … Read More
Oystercatcher Diaries 2018: Field Week 2
By Susan Heath Another exciting week of oystercatchering! I had planned to do West Galveston Bay on Wednesday and East Matagorda Bay on Friday but Manomet is doing an aerial survey for American Oystercatchers in the U.S. to get a population count and they wanted people to count birds from boats so they could ground truth the aerial survey. It’s … Read More
Oystercatcher Diaries 2018: Field Week 1
By Susan Heath It’s time! I was joined on Wednesday by Robin Bjork, GCBO’s new Avian Conservation Biologist, and master naturalists Alan Wilde and John Wright to conduct our first official oystercatcher monitoring trip of the season. We made a short foray in January just to make sure there were no early nests but we didn’t check on all the … Read More
Smith Point Hawk Watch 11/15/17 (59 raptors)
Bob reports 59 migrating raptors today. Broad-winged Hawk 15 Swainson’s Hawk 1 Sharp-shinned Hawk 6 Cooper’s Hawk 3 Turkey Vulture 14 Black Vulture 15 American Kestrel 1 Peregrine Falcon 1 Northern Harrier 3 Lots of white pelicans today and a few cranes. And on this last day of the hawk watch, the Tern-billed Dipper showed up! See the GCBO Facebook … Read More
Smith Point Hawk Watch 11/14/17 (94 raptors)
Bob reports 94 migrating raptors today. Broad-winged Hawk 45 Red-tailed Hawk 2 Swainson’s Hawk 2 Sharp-shinned Hawk 4 Cooper’s Hawk 1 Turkey Vulture 32 Northern Harrier 6 Bald Eagle 2 One adult Bald Eagle and one third year. Lots of pelicans and cranes. Tomorrow is the last day of the hawk watch! Come out and say goodbye to Bob!
Smith Point Hawk Watch 11/13/17 (148 raptors)
Bob reports 148 migrating raptors today. Broad-winged Hawk 77 Red-tailed Hawk 1 Sharp-shinned Hawk 5 Cooper’s Hawk 3 Turkey Vulture 53 American Kestrel 1 Northern Harrier 8 Lots and lots of American White Pelicans, some Sandhill Cranes, and lots of geese.
Smith Point Hawk Watch 11/12/17 (67 raptors)
Bob reports 67 migrating raptors today. Broad-winged Hawk 11 Red-tailed Hawk 1 Swainson’s Hawk 1 Sharp 19 Cooper’s Hawk 4 Turkey Vulture 14 American Kestrel 1 Northern Harrier 16 The Harris’s Hawk is still hanging around. Lots of American White Pelicans and a calling Common Loon.
Smith Point Hawk Watch 11/11/17 (259 raptors)
Bob reports 259 migrating raptors today. Broad-winged Hawk 51 Red-tailed Hawk 9 Swainson’s Hawk 1 Sharp-shinned Hawk 16 Cooper’s Hawk 9 Turkey Vulture 147 American Kestrel 7 Peregrine Falcon 1 osprey 1 Northern Harrier 10 Golden Eagle 1 Bald Eagle 6 Golden Eagle had no w hite on tail or wings. Two adult Bald Eagles among the mix. Harris’s Hawk … Read More
Smith Point Hawk Watch 11/10/17 (314 raptors)
Bob reports 314 migrating raptors today. Broad-winged Hawk 156 Red-tailed Hawk 3 Swainson’s Hawk 11 Harris’s Hawk 3 Sharp-shinned Hawk 9 Cooper’s Hawk 3 Turkey Vulture 104 American Kestrel 1 Peregrine Falcon 1 Northern Harrier 19 Golden Eagle 1 Bald Eagle 3 Golden Eagle was a juvenile. Three adults Harris’s Hawks! Two at once and then another with molt in … Read More
Smith Point Hawk Watch 11/9/17 (824 raptors)
Bob reports 824 migrating raptors today. Broad-winged Hawk 361 Red-tailed Hawk 24 Swainson’s Hawk 31 Red-shouldered Hawk 2 Harris’s Hawk 1 White-tailed Hawk 4 Sharp-shinned Hawk 31 Cooper’s Hawk 23 Turkey Vulture 290 Black Vulture 12 American Kestrel 6 Peregrine Falcon 1 Northern Harrier 33 Bald Eagle 5 Lots of Snow Geese, 8 or 9 Ross’s Geese, Greater White-fronted Geese, … Read More
Smith Point Hawk Watch 11/8/17 (198 raptors)
Bob reports 198 migrating raptors today. Broad-winged Hawk 35 Red-tailed Hawk 3 Swainson’s Hawk 16 Harris’s Hawk 1 Sharp-shinned Hawk 12 Cooper’s Hawk 4 Turkey Vulture 95 Black Vulture 9 American Kestrel 7 Peregrine Falcon 4 Northern Harrier 12 The Harris’s Hawk was an adult. About 100 Snow Geese, lots of Lesser Scaup, several age classes of White-tailed Hawks, and … Read More