Hook-billed Kite-my life bird and one of 5 today in Mission,TX

-

After spending 2 hours with more than 20 other birders this morning watching for Hook-billed Kites, that have been reported for several days flying in the area of the Mission, TX bike trails (Nature Park area) I returned in mid-afternoon to give it another try. I didn't see anyone else there when I arrived but quickly spotted 2 Hooked-billed Kites flying low coming in my direction. I heard some chattering vocalizations during that first flight as they had been flushed according to a couple from New York that had seen them further east of me.

One of the Hawks landed in a tree in the mesquite forest about 250 feet away. I watched it for a full 5 minutes (per photo time stamping) where I got a very nice view through my spotting scope of his face including the "yellow teardrop over the eyes" (as described by Brian Wheeler in Raptors of W. North America).

After both of those kites had flown off I stayed put and was delighted to watch between 1-3 birds fly by (all but one time they close to where I was standing) an additional 4 times. In total there were 5 birds.

Benton Basham (" In 1983 Benton Basham became the first person to break the 700 species barrier in a calendar year.") arrived and joined me for those additional great views and the couple from New York joined Ben and I for the last 2 times we watched them fly by. During one flight one of the kites flew directly over the 4 of us at less than 50 feet. On the last flight one of the kites put on quite a show by soaring and gliding not just just above the mesquite tree tops but higher above in the air as it circled a number of times as it flew off to the north.

This is an adult male light morph Hook-billed Kite showing the following field marks in these photos: iris is white (adult field mark); large and hooked bill; "yellow teardrop over the eyes"; underparts are white and grey barred; grey head;"yellowish patch under nares" (Raptors of W. North American, p78)[click on photos to enlarge to see this]; one broad white tail band easily seen and the second can be partially seen though covered a great deal by the undertail coverts. Photos of other Hook-billed Kites will be uploaded tomorrow. SeEtta

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Spotted Sandpiper Chicks, 3 more days older

-
Image
Two days when I went to check on the Spotted Sandpiper family at Florence River Park I thought they had likely perished--there were two men engaged in gold panning right where the parent sandpiper had been and they had dug some of the sand from the bank where I last saw the sandpiper chicks. Arggh, I was afraid that all this activity, plus a large off leash dog with these people, would have scared the parent away and even if the chicks were successful in hiding in the vegetation they would not survive without a parent at their young age. What a surprise when I returned that evening for one last check to be accosted by the parent sandpiper calling loudly and challenging me by walking right towards me (and my dog). It took awhile for the parent to settle down and for one of the chicks to walk in some grass where I could spot it--the parent had moved the chicks about 150 from the river into an area with a lot of vegetation. I returned day before yesterday and refound the parent and ...
Read more

Recently fledged Common Raven

-
Image
At the end of March this year I spotted a Common Raven going into a crevice above a rock face of a local cliff area called Castle Rock (as part of it looks sort of like a castle). I started watching this area and observed a pair of Common Ravens spending time around this location. On March 27 I spotted one of the ravens inside the crevice which now had what looked like nesting material in it--the photograph of that is the second pic here. I continued off and on to check this apparent crevice nest. At the end of May I saw what appeared to be a nestling inside the crevice. I continued birding in the riparian forest across the Arkansas River from this cliff area. When I was about a quarter mile away I heard a lot of raven racket and walked to a spot where I could see the cliff area through my binoculars. I could see a lot of raven action with the parent birds calling loudly so I expected that the nestling may have fledged or they were trying to get it to fledge. I went back t...
Read more

Band-tailed Pigeons, the mountain pigeons

-
Image
I spotted a small flock of about 9 or 10 of these Band-tailed Pigeons in a tiny unincorporated town called Greenwood which is south of Canon City about 20 miles (via winged flight). The homes in Greenwood are right up against the San Isabel National Forest and forests are the habitat for these mountain pigeons. The white collar on the nape of this species can be seen in the pic above.  The broad pale gray terminal band on a darker upper tail (and below the light undertail coverts) is best seen in pic below.  SeEtta
Read more