Southwest Highways September 2013 | Page 27

September 2013 26

Another internationally recognized hawk watch tower is at Hazel Bazemore County Park west of Corpus Christi. The migration period lasts from mid-August to Mid-November, as millions of raptors make their way to the coast past the park. In fact, 95% of the North American population of Broad-winged Hawks flies over the park, with the peak being in late September, when kettles of 10,000 hawks each can fly in huge patterns of 100,000 hawks. Mississippi Kites, Anhingas, and Wood Storks are mixed in with the Broad-winged Hawk kettles. Most of the Mississippi Kites go south in late August, however, while Swainson’s Hawks can be seen in early October. Many other species of birds, not just raptors, pass over and through this park, making it a good choice for a birding outing any time during the Fall migration period. One more excellent hawk watch spot is at Smith Point in Candy Abshier Wildlife Management Area in Galveston Bay. The hawk watch from mid-August to mid-November is administered by Hawk Watch International and The Gulf Coast Bird Observatory in a tower situated on the tip of the Smith Point peninsula. Counts have ranged from 25,000 to 115,000 for the season, most of the migrants being Broad-winged Hawks, but also including Mississippi Kites, Sharp-shinned and Cooper’s Hawks, and American Kestrels. While I have not been to this location, it certainly would be worth a visit by hawk lovers in East Texas.

While huge flocks of hawks can stun even the most advanced birder, it is the tiny colorful warblers that we all try to glimpse in the trees of our favorite birding hotspots. Nothing attracts birders like a warbler, I’ve found. So where are they in the Fall migration? Different species migrate at different times, so there are many chances to see something, even if you miss the one you hoped for. Warblers, like the orioles, buntings, waterbirds, cuckoos, flycatchers, and thrushes, are prey birds, and just as they like the safety of tree cover in their home grounds, they tend to migrate at night to be undetectable by predators. That means we can see them when they stop for rest and food, in tree cover that also has a water source. Even species that tend to remain solitary at home often migrate in mixed groups for safety.

Warblers in the Fall are a little harder to identify than in spring because the adults’ summer plumage is worn and the new young warblers still have their subadult plumage. Some warblers have a different winter plumage than the breeding plumage, and are in transition in the Fall. At this time of year the warblers and many other species are not very vocal, because they are not trying to find mates and need to stay inconspicuous from predators while resting on their journey south. The best way to spot them is to stay in one place and look for movement in the trees. Some species tend to forage in the upper tree canopy, such as the Northern Parula, d Warbler, and American Redstart, while others are closer to eye level, such as the Prothonotary and Golden-winged Warblers. The waterthrushes, Overnbird and Swainson’s Warbler are at ground level. A good publication for the habits of warblers is “On the Warblers of Texas” by Clifford E. Shackleford, Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, Fourth Edition.