5/5 - 5/9 - The Dam Breaks!

It's been a while since I've posted - so I added this post and the one previous (4/25-5/2). We've been in process of moving and without internet. This should make up for lost time!

Be sure to read from the bottom up on this one...

5/9 - Dam Leak & Swallow-tailed Kite!
See photo below:







Just kidding! Just thought I'd get your hearts thuming for a minute! It truly is a picture of a Barn Swallow.

After the dam broke yesterday I was trying to be ready for anything. The dam apparently got fixed, but sprung a leak for 30-40 minutes when I got nearly all the raptors for the day. Again, movements were N to S, straight overhead and HIGH - making ID difficult.

Lots of Swallows continue to swoop past my hawk watch - Bank Swallow has added itself to the Barns, Rough-wings and Trees.

Raptors:

Red-tailed Hawk: 6

Rough-legged Hawk: 1

UnIdentified Raptor: 1

UnIdentified Buteo: 3

Turkey Vulture: 35

Others:

None of note

5/8 - The day the DAM BROKE!

This day came out of the blue, but at 12:10 the raptor dam broke and all hawk broke loose! For the next 2 hours I had a steady stream of raptors of several species streaming overhead - oddly from N to S. They were all at great heights (1000' or more) and directly overhead. This made my scope virtually useless - until they flew further away, at which time I became blinded by the sun and then after that they became sillouhetted birds very difficult to ID. Needless to say I was glad to see raptors but became frustrated with ID. Check out the numbers:

Raptors:

Red-tailed Hawk: 17

Sharp-shinned Hawk: 7

Cooper's Hawk: 1

Bald Eagle: 5

Broad-winged Hawk: 10

Northern Harrier: 2

American Kestrel: 1

Osprey: 2

UnIdentified Raptor: 5

UnIdentified Accipiter: 6

UnIdentified Buteo: 11

Others:

None of note.

5/6

Raptors:

Red-tailed Hawk: 4

Sharp-shinned Hawk: 5

Northern Harrier: 3

Peregrine Falcon: 1

Turkey Vulture: 12

UnIdentified Accipiter: 2

Others:

Indigo Buntings - about 2 dozen were counted through mainly the a.m. hours flying S. high overhead - heard by their buzzy flight call.

Red-headed Woodpecker (photogenic! see below)

5/5

Raptors:

Sharp-shinned Hawk: 4

Cooper's Hawk: 1

Osprey: 1

Northern Harrier: 1

Turkey Vulture: 5

Others:

Sandhill Crane: 3

Marsh Wren - I kicked one up out of the dune grass on my way walking up to my hawk watch - I guess the dune grass was as good as it could find for habitat to take a migratory break in.